Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) has revealed plans to carry on partnering with Sprint Accelerator in 2019 as it aims to continue nurturing innovative start-ups.
The accelerator, located in Kansas City, consists of a 90-day programme and this will be the second edition of DFA’s collaboration. The dairy company said in 2019 it will again sponsor both the ag tech and dairy food product segments.
DFA’s sponsorship announcement was made at a demonstration day recently Kansas City, where CEOs from the participating start-ups presented their ideas.
Brands which were selected to participate in the this year’s scheme included: MoPro Nutrition, a maker of Greek yogurt infused with whey protein isolate; SomaDetect, a precision dairy company that is creating an in-line system for measuring every compound of interest in raw milk; and Cheddies, which manufacturers cheese crackers that have added nutritional benefits.
DFA senior vice president of finance Kevin Strathman said: “DFA is committed to helping support and grow the dairy industry, and this programme allows us to really keep a finger on the pulse of new technologies and innovation for both our farmers and the industry at large.
“It’s also been really inspiring to help foster and mentor these entrepreneurs, and we’ve found that we learn as much from them as they do from us.”
SomaDetect CEO Bethany Deshpande said: “The collaboration, mentorship and idea sharing from DFA, Sprint and the other start-up companies has been invaluable.
“Their support has absolutely helped our business, and I feel incredibly thankful for how committed everyone was in helping us grow our business, especially DFA. I would highly recommend the accelerator as we’ve gained tremendous traction in such a short time and taken our business to the next level.”
DFA said that additional details for the 2019 Sprint Accelerator programme will be available later this year.
The news follows an announcement by Chobani last month that its new incubator will focus on food tech and ag-tech as it aims to solve challenges along the food value chain.
Speaking to FoodBev, Chobani incubator director Jackie Miller said: “As a food maker on the front lines of the supply chain, Chobani wants to give those with technical expertise access to our knowledge, network and resources to build better innovative solutions that can make an impact on food systems at scale.”
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