Agritech Ramp-Up
The Agritech Ramp-Up Pilot Program was a Government of British Columbia-funded initiative delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC (IAF) to accelerate the commercialization and growth of early-stage agritech businesses in British Columbia. The program focused on ventures involved in primary agriculture, agricultural technologies, and innovative food products and processes.
The program was designed to help entrepreneurs move beyond product development by validating market demand, refining business models, and preparing for commercialization. A total of 21 BC agri-tech companies participated across two cohorts in 2022.
Program Structure
The program consisted of two phases:
Phase 1: Market Validation Training (MVT)
Participants completed an intensive training process focused on customer discovery and commercialization planning. Activities included:
- Conducting structured customer interviews with potential buyers and industry stakeholders.
- Testing assumptions about market needs and product fit.
- Identifying barriers to scale-up and commercialization.
- Iteratively refining business models and go-to-market strategies.
- Developing a comprehensive go-to-market plan.
The training emphasized evidence-based decision-making, helping participants align their products and services with real customer needs rather than relying solely on technical development.
Phase 2: Coaching, Mentoring and Networking
Companies demonstrating progress through the market validation process advanced to a second phase that provided:
- One-on-one coaching and mentorship.
- Access to industry experts and networks.
- Business development support.
- Guidance based on Customer Readiness Level (CRL) assessments.
The program concluded with a virtual pitch event where participants presented their commercialization plans.
Business Development Grants
At the end of each cohort, the Phase 2 participants were invited to a virtual pitch event. Members of the audience included trainers, mentors and special guest judges from the BC Agri-tech community who scored the presentations. The scores were used by the review committee to help determine the top two companies from each cohort. The top two scoring companies from each cohort were awarded a business development grant of $25,000.
Following the pitch competition, the top-performing companies received Business Development Grants of $25,000 each, representing approximately $100,000 in total funding.
Grant recipients included:
Cohort 1
- PickAssist (Lyne Systems)
- QuantoTech
Cohort 2
- Nature Recombined Sciences Inc.
- INHUB Farms
“The support our team has received from [Ramp-Up] has contributed to the build of our newly designed PikAssist pilot device. This iteration of our device has been developed through many rounds of on-farm testing, and consultation with mushroom farmers and experts across North America and Europe. The build of this new pilot device will allow for final testing on our partner farms to prove the efficacy of our device, and allow us to begin providing devices to mushroom farms across BC and Canada. These PikAssists, once installed, will allow mushroom farms to increase their growing capacity, reduce their harvesting labour requirement, and gather valuable harvest room data.”
Supported
Funding provided by the Government of British Columbia.
