Sopung Connect, a specialized accelerator for value-up of early-stage startups, announced on May 19 that it will begin recruiting participating companies for 2025 for the open innovation program 'NHarvestX', co-hosted by the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and the Korea Institute for Agricultural Sciences and Technology.
'NHarvestX' is an advanced course of Nonghyup AgTech Youth Entrepreneurship Campus, and aims to discover and foster promising AgTech startups with innovative technologies to promote digital transformation in agricultural fields. This program will be operated exclusively by Sopung Connect based on its specialized acceleration capabilities in the agricultural and food sector, and will support the growth of participating startups in various ways.
Recruitment for participating companies in 2025 will be conducted from May 19 to June 8 through the official 'NHarvestX' website . The companies finally selected will carry out a PoC (proof of concept) project with Nonghyup's field department for approximately 6 months and will have the opportunity to utilize Nonghyup's various infrastructures and field networks. In addition, programs such as technological advancement, field experience, expert mentoring, and investment linkage will also be provided.
This recruitment is centered on demand-based technologies of Nonghyup affiliates, and targets startups with related technologies in ▲production and cultivation ▲processing, storage, packaging, distribution ▲marketing, sales, consumption ▲livestock, such as data, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and biodegradable biomaterials. Specific qualifications for support and possible areas of cooperation can be found on the official website.
Since 2023, Sopung Connect has been discovering agtech startups through 'NHarvestX', and since 2020, it has supported a total of 63 agricultural and food startups in cooperation with various organizations and companies. The cumulative follow-up investment amount of these companies amounts to approximately 46.5 billion won. Sopung Connect supports customized growth based on a pool of external experts covering all aspects of startup management, including human resources, patents, marketing, and overseas expansion.
Kyunghee Choi, CEO of Picnic Connect, said, “NHarvestX is an open innovation program that aims to solve real problems by being the connecting point between the practicality of agriculture and innovative technology,” and added, “We look forward to the interest and participation of many startups with technological prowess and scalability.”
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