Ag venture group TechAccel invests $250K in research partnership

A new partnership will advance agricultural innovation in the state of Missouri.

TechAccel, a Kansas City-based technology and venture development firm, recently announced it will work with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, a St. Louis-based nonprofit research institute.

TechAccel will provide $250,000 in grants to the Danforth Center to help it demonstrate proof of concept and commercial feasibility with research projects affiliated with the research center. The two organizations will split returns on the technology they commercialize.

Founded in 2014, TechAccel specializes in ag and animal health technology. The firm invests in, sources and acquires early-stage innovations through collaborations with various institutions.

TechAccel CEO Michael Helmstetter said that the partnership is an important milestone for the company as well as the agricultural ecosystem.

“Agriculture research can and will change the world, but only if it has the backing to move from concept to proof to product,” Helmstetter said in a news release. “We bring capital coupled with science advancement to support that push to the finish line — the commercial market.”

The Danforth Center’s mission is to improve the human condition through plant science. Although the nonprofit has received grants in the past, the partnership with TechAccel marks the first grant specifically targeted at commercializing its innovations.

“The Path to Commercialization program provides a new tool for translating our discoveries into real-world solutions,” Danforth Center president James C. Carrington said in a release. “We look forward to seeing even more of the Danforth Center’s research delivering transformative products and technology to market.”

TechAccel participates in a similar research partnership with the University of California-Davis established in April 2016. As part of the Science Translation and Innovative Research program at UC-Davis, TechAccel invested $400,000 for grants to commercialize or prove out agriculture- and animal health-related innovations.