Six months ago, 27 teams were selected to join the second Batch of Berytech’s Agrytech Accelerator Program to work on developing their innovative startups tackling a challenge in the agri-food sector.
After the first Bootcamp phase where the startups worked to validate their market, 14 teams out of 27 were selected to move to the second phase of the Accelerator.
The second phase – the acceleration phase, was an intensive 4-month period where the teams received an additional $16,000 in support grants to develop their Minimum Viable Product and get traction with their potential customers.
At the end of the second phase, only 9 teams out of the 14 were chosen to continue to the third and final phase of the Accelerator, a 6-month incubation program where they will benefit from up to $22,000 in matching grants.
The selected startups who will be joining the third and final incubation phase include AgriEats, Cubex, Digimart, Foodcheck, IOTree, Mushtic, Quadra, Rigino and Turista kit.
Workshops and activities
Acceleration was an intensive period for the startups where they learned about the different principles to set up and manage their business. The program included workshops in Finance, Intellectual Property, Law, and Sales.
Teams learned about various concepts related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) to protect and maintain value in their business while being exposed to the importance of patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
The Legal workshops provided the teams with a general overview of the different legal registration structures, taxation, and the process of setting up a business in Lebanon. Teams were also exposed to Financial Management with a focus on understanding their investment plan.
Entrepreneurs were introduced to the best practices to sell their product, and they received knowledge on how to build and experiment with different pricing strategies that can resonate with their target audience.
The startups were familiarized with the most recent theories in market penetration, introduced to the different sales strategies to create an exceptional customer experience, showcase their competitive advantages to their potential clients, set up a brand promise, and develop an efficient sales cycle to grow their business.
During the entire phase, the startups were getting one-to-one coaching with dedicated business experts to develop the business side of their company. They also went on a study tour to the Netherlands to get exposure to international markets.
Selection Day
Phase 2 ended with a selection day, in which the startups pitched in front of a panel to get selected to move to the last phase of the Accelerator.
The jury of the selection day included: Bijan Azad, Associate professor at Olayan School of Business, AUB; Elias Bachaalany, Chief Design Officer of Neuvatekand CEO at Automatix;Henri Asseily, Managing partner at Leap Ventures; Rony Kaddoum, DebbaneAgri; Samar Hawa, Senior Advisor at Berytech Fund 2; Yolla Serieddine, Executive Manager at Kafalat; and Kamal Tarazi, Managing Director at Accenture.
During the incubation, and over a period of 6 months, the 9 selected startups will get $22,000 in matching capital with continuous training and support to scale their startup. Batch 2 incubation is conducted in partnership with Sanad Entrepreneurship Academy.
Demoing at Lebanon Agri-Food Innovation Day 2019
All 9 startups will debut their products and services for the first time to the public at Lebanon Agri-Food Innovation Day 2019, happening at BIEL on February 5, 2019.
Register for the day and join us to hear their demos and learn more about their innovations and growth plans.
For more details about the selected startups, check out their profiles on the Agryetch website.