ThinkAg, a platform for Agri and Food innovation co-founded by Ankur Capital, with Mr. Ram Kaundinya, Mr. Raman Ahuja and Mr. Hemendra Mathur, brings together corporates and stakeholders in the industry to build India's largest network for innovation and entrepreneurship in the sector. The platform aims to accelerate adoption of innovation, through partnerships with corporates and to build a rich knowledge base of successful adoptions of new technologies in agriculture.
ThinkAg, India's only dedicated Agritech and food security platform was launched by Dr. Harsh Bhanwala - Chairman NABARD. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala said, "It is my pleasure to deliver this special address at the launch of ThinkAg, a platform for accelerating innovations in the food and agri sector. It is heartening to see the enthusiastic participation of many leading corporates and investors in today's forum."
Senior leadership from the country's largest food and agriculture companies and innovators deliberated on the unique collaboration model of ThinkAg to solve the pressing issues plaguing the development of entrepreneurship in the food & agri space. The ThinkAg platform, which is a not for profit Sec. 8 companies will work across five broad themes smart farming, risk mitigation, supply chain optimization, and NextGen nutrition.
The launch included the leadership from over 25 companies such as BASF, Godrej Agrovet, Allana Group, Syngenta & Monsanto to name a few. Innovators from India, Israel and Germany presented their innovations across various sections ranging from Smart farming to next-generation nutrition. The innovators included:
- Fibsol (India) - Nanotechnology solution that uses ultralight weight membranes to help fertilize large areas of farmland leading to improvement in crop-yield and soil fertility.
- Weedout (Israel) - Bringing a totally new strategy into the world of weed control by developing a novel biological herbicide to fight off resistant weeds.
- Satsure (India) - Precision farming solution that combines satellite imagery with AI and AR in order to provide crucial intelligence related to risk/credit scoring farm management.
- Plantix (Germany) - An innovative multi-lingual plant disease and pest diagnostic app, available on farmers' mobile phones helps them identify pests and diseases.
- Agricx (India) - Reimagining post harvest sales & marketing through AI, this innovation is going to transform the way agriculture procurement specialist across country procure their requirements in the most efficient way with use of technology.
- Kalgudi (India) - A business networking platform for Agri related businesses bridging the gap between a buyer and a seller across all barriers.
- Stringbio (India) - A company that provides a new way of using methane, a common by-product of natural gas, biogas, and landfill gas, to chemically leverage value-added products such as single cell proteins for animal nutrition and polymers in a profitable way.
"ThinkAg gives us an opportunity to understand innovations and startups in Agricultural space on a single platform. We are excited at the prospect of mentoring and enabling to bring technologies that will have a synergy with our portfolio and impact on Indian Agriculture," said Dr Raman Ramachandran, Chairman & MD, BASF India.
"A platform like ThinkAg is the dire need today to galvanize efforts at innovation and entrepreneurship and transform Indian agriculture. Improving farmer's income and bringing financial stability to his family will receive a boost with such platforms," said Mr Ram Kaundinya, Co-Founder, ThinkAg.
"Launch of ThinkAg platform is a leap in the right direction for the Agri-innovation community. It has brought in all relevant stakeholders with an objective of structured interaction. Was a pleasure to be part of the launch, look forward to more engagements," said Mr. Anant Raheja, Co-founder & C.T.O, FIB-SOL Life Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
"ThinkAg is a great platform which showcases innovations in the field of Agriculture to the commercial world. This is a unique initiative in Food and Agriculture area, which will accelerate innovation in this industry. We shall evaluate a couple of good ideas for potential commercialization. Mentoring by the expert ThingAg team makes the ideas more attractive. We look forward to more ideas coming from ThingAg platform," said Mr. Anil Jain, Director of Crystal Cropcare.
"ThinkAg has done a great job of gathering the thought leaders of Indian agriculture to discus how we can make India a global agricultural powerhouse and transform the lives of Indian farmers," said Mr. Burjis Godrej, Godrej Agrovet.
The ThinkAg platform is India's first and only platform for corporate and innovators to come together and accelerate innovation to market. The launch is the first in a series of many such interaction planned to encourage knowledge sharing, partnerships and investments.
For more information:
www.thinkag.in