New AgTech Accelerators Announced in Champaign

CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS – Nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor and venture capital fund Serra Ventures have announced a new partnership to bring programming for agtech startups to Champaign. Under the banner of the Illinois AgTech Accelerators, the programs will be offered under gener8tor’s gBETA and gener8tor accelerator models starting in Summer 2020, thanks to the support of Agri-Fab, Inc., Fox Development Corp., GEM Realty Capital, The UIUC Research Park, the University of Illinois, and The Champaign County Economic Development Corporation.

Starting in Summer 2020, the consortium will offer gBETA AgTech, a free, seven-week accelerator for early-stage companies. As part of gBETA AgTech, each of five participating startups will receive a $25,000 investment via uncapped convertible note or on their existing financing terms. 

gBETA is designed to help startups gain early customer traction on their product or idea, and establish and execute on metrics that make them competitive applicants for full-time, equity-based accelerators or seed investment. Participants receive intensive and individualized coaching and access to gener8tor’s national network of mentors, customers, corporate partners, and investors. 

In addition, the consortium will operate an annual gener8tor AgTech accelerator that will recruit best-in-breed agtech startups worldwide to Champaign for an intensive, 12-week accelerator. The five selected startups for gener8tor AgTech will spend three months focused on connecting with mentors, customers, corporate partners, and investors. Each startup will receive a cash investment of $100,000 via uncapped convertible note or on their existing financing terms, office space and access to gener8tor’s global network of mentors and investors. The gener8tor AgTech accelerator program will run once per year. 

“We are delighted to be bringing an Agriculture Technology accelerator to the Champaign-Urbana community. Contributions by many organizations and people in our community have brought this accelerator program together. Additionally, we are excited to have gener8tor as a partner to lead the operation of the program,” said Dennis Beard, Partner at Serra Ventures.    

“We wanted to design programs that combined the core competencies and network of our Champaign-based corporate partners with a frictionless investment model to attract the best startups from around the world,” said Troy Vosseller, Co-Founder of gener8tor.

Applications for gBETA AgTech are currently being accepted, and local startups interested in applying can visit www.gbetaagtech.com.

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About Serra Ventures

www.serraventures.com

Serra Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technology companies in emerging Midwest technology centers and selected other geographies. Sectors of focus include information technology, devices/instrumentation, and agricultural technologies. The profile of an ideal startup for consideration by Serra is one that has just finished an accelerator program, an I-Corps program or has been through a round of seed funding to establish and prove a strong product-market fit. Serra Ventures is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, with additional offices in Chicago and San Diego. 

About gener8tor

www.gener8tor.com 

gener8tor’s turnkey platform for the creative economy connects startup founders, musicians, artists, investors, universities and corporations. The gener8tor platform includes pre-accelerators, accelerators, corporate programming, conferences, and fellowships. gener8tor is a nationally ranked, GOLD-tier accelerator in the U.S. as ranked by the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project. 

About gBETA

www.gBETAstartups.com 

gBETA is a program of nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor. gBETA is a free accelerator for early-stage companies. Each program is capped at five teams and requires no fees and no equity.

Contact Information

Dennis Beard

Managing Partner

Serra Ventures, LLC

(1) 2178195202

dennis@serraventures.com