TechAccel advances on two agriculture deals
September 10, 2015 | Ashley Jost
Technology Acceleration Partners, or TechAccel, advanced two deals that significantly boost the group’s investment effort into the agriculture sector.
The deals include a licensing agreement with Kansas State University for a patent on a bio-pesticide, and an equity investment in Benson Hill Biosystems. The private capital development company — founded by Michael Helmstetter and the Bicknell Family Holding Company — announced the deals on Sept. 9, less than a year after TechAccel’s inception. TechAccel focuses on the agriculture, animal health and food sectors.
The Kansas State bio-pesticide builds on “a naturally occurring and biodegradable platform,” while doing its job of preventing crop damage from insects. TechAccel leaders hope to sublicense the technology to global leaders in the crop agriculture industry.
The investment in Benson Hill comes after the biosystem company’s new crop platform was named as the breakthrough technology of the year for 2015 by The MIT Review. Benson Hill focuses on boosting photosynthetic efficiency in crops in tumultuous environments like drought or high temperatures.
“We spent much of our first year assessing the complex and evolving agriculture and animal health ecosystem, understanding scientific and market gaps as well as potential innovation solutions,” TechAccel CEO Michael Helmstetter said in a news release. “Both of these transactions demonstrate TechAccel’s fierce commitment to collaboratively advance transformative science. Our diverse and expanding portfolio of investments remains focused on highly impactful technologies in need of scientific advancement and acceleration to the global marketplace.”
Featured Business
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
This voter-approved investor backed Zhou B Arts, KD Academy and a new hotel at 18th and Vine; now it has a new home
EDCKC absorbing initiative built to strengthen KC’s urban core after $60M in investments A move to transition the Central City Economic Development (CCED) program under the umbrella of a larger KCMO impact agency is expected to boost the urban core-focused initiative’s ability to uplift both the people and the places at the heart of Kansas…
Hidden costs of grief: Chef’s murder illustrates economic toll of gun violence in KC
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by The Beacon, a member of the KC Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, Kansas City PBS/Flatland, and Missouri Business Alert. Click here to read the original story from The Beacon, an online news outlet focused on local, in-depth journalism in the public interest.…
‘The American dream is the Midwest’: LaunchKC powers next generation of startup job creators
Editor’s note: The following is part of an ongoing feature series exploring impacts of initiatives within the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City through a paid partnership with EDCKC. Relocating to Kansas City after winning a LaunchKC grant — and the community and infrastructure support that comes with it — gives Russel Karim’s startup a centralized…
Roz audits its path to $2.15M in early funding; how KC helped this AI startup scale its potential
A series of funding wins is boosting a Kansas City startup’s efforts to automate the most complex — and tedious — parts of compliance work, drawing from the co-founder’s own pain points and resources from a server-full of local entrepreneur support initiatives. With $2.15 million in funding under its belt so far, Olathe-based Roz — which…