After four years, the Iowa Agritech Accelerator will not return in 2021 and the governing board has decided to dissolve the program, organizers of the program announced today.
Launched in 2016 by the Greater Des Moines Partnership and the Cultivation Corridor, the accelerator graduated a total of 18 companies throughout its four cohorts. The Des Moines-based accelerator was funded by several investors including Farmers Mutual Hail, Grinnell Mutual, John Deere, Kent Corporation, Sukup Manufacturing and Corteva Agriscience.
“The board recognized that the value proposition and original goals have been fulfilled as evidenced by the variety of entrepreneurial opportunities in existence today which didn’t exist when the accelerator was launched in 2016,” wrote Nadilia Gomez, Executive Director of the accelerator in a statement.
Startups who have participated in the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator in the past will continue to be supported by the fund, according to the statement.
“We will simply not be continuing with additional programming in the future,” wrote Gomez. “We are also reassured that there are several resources and organizations in operation today to continue the mission of identifying and developing the next great technologies for the ag sector.”