Agtech startups pitch to big crowd

SproutX general manager Sam Trethewey said the participants presented their ideas incredibly well, particularly given they had only been in the program for four days.

“Everyone was really impressed with the finish of the startups, and the confidence in their pitches,” Mr Trethewey said.

“There was a wide selection of ideas and concepts at various stages of development.”

He said the three judges on the panel were very happy with the calibre of the startups.

“Some of the startups look to be getting into some really big industry problems, one of them is working on yield forecasting, one is working on tracking the health of cattle, and another one is working on wild dog and fox control with some really smart technology,” he said.

“There was a farmer on the panel who was really impressed by these because they were issues that he’d been facing for years.”

The participants had three minutes to pitch their idea, and were then judged by the panel and crowd to come up with a people’s choice and judge’s choice winner.

Bannockburn farmer and Farmgate MSU founder Chris Balazs was chosen as the winner of both the people’s choice and judge’s choice awards.

“He’s created a mobile slaughter business, where people are sent to properties and slaughter the animals for you, rather than them having to be sent into an abattoir,” Mr Trethewey said.

“This means it creates higher quality meat because the animal isn’t stressed when killed, and also eliminates transport costs to an abattoir.”

He said Mr Balazs did a fantastic job presenting this idea to the audience.

“He presented really well, he got up there and said ‘I’m a farmer and this is a problem, and this is what I’m going to do to fix it’,” he said.

“He’s working on a really good solution to a massive problem, and above all, his presentation was great, and he told a great story.”

He said Mr Balazs would be awarded additional mentoring for winning both of the competitions.