Between March 27 and April 1, Sofia hosted the pilot edition of the Accelerator Program for Startups in the Field of Agriculture between China and the CEE Countries. Invest Sofia was an institutional partner of the event and at the invitation of the organizers from the Center for the Promotion of Cooperation in the Field of Agriculture between China and the CEE Countries the Chief Executive Director, Ph.D. Maria Hristova joined as a member of the jury that voted for the winners of the accelerator.
42 companies from 11 countries applied for the program, and 20 startups hit the final competition on April 1 to present their innovative solutions in agriculture in Sofia Tech Park to the jury members, investors, representatives of academia and business, experts, media, and diplomats from CEE and China. The projects covered areas such as beekeeping, food waste reduction, farmer-to-end-user chain solutions, soil enrichment for vineyards, biodegradable packaging, air quality control and energy efficiency of buildings, plant protection technologies, and controlled release of bioactive components, smart irrigation systems, AI and IoT application in agriculture and much more.
For the accelerator program, Sofia welcomed startup founders from China, Hungary, Greece, and other CEE countries. At the finals in Sofia Tech Park, the Hungarian startup bioreaction.net won third place and €10,000 in funding. Second place and a €15,000 prize went to the Greek startup farm-b.com and their smart platform for visualization and analyses of agro-data for production flow, crop status, machinery routine, meteo data, and many more. We are glad that the big winner of 1st place and a prize of 25,000 euros went to a company based in Sofia. This is the biodegradable laminate packaging startup LAM’ON. A few days ago, the company received yet another prestigious award – for the most innovative startup during the Innovation Awards by the French-Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“We appreciate the exceptional and timely assistance regarding the pilot edition of the “Accelerator Program for Agricultural Startups between China and Central and Eastern European Countries”. Thank you for your support in this event, and we will be happy to continue our partnership in the future”, the Managing Director of the Center for the Promotion of Cooperation in the Field of Agriculture between China and the CEE Countries, Ph.D. Momchil Stanishev wrote in an official letter to Invest Sofia.
The final competition was broadcast live on YouTube. We invite everyone who is interested in agritech and innovative solutions in the sector to watch the presented projects in the video here.