AgTech & FoodTech accelerators
Accelerators for AgTech & FoodTech founders
Agtech and foodtech is the vertical where you most need to check whether a program still exists before you spend an evening on its application. Of the seven programs we track, three are dormant or gone: the Chobani Incubator has not announced a cohort since roughly 2021, SOSV retired Food-X and folded food startups into its current SOSV NY, SOSV SF, and HAX programs, and the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator dissolved in early 2021. We keep those pages up with honest status notes so you learn that here rather than after applying. Among the active options, the models differ sharply. Techstars Future of Food invests $220,000 on standard Techstars terms for a minimum of 5% equity. AgLaunch runs its distinctive farmer equity model, where farmers earn stakes in startups by running on-farm trials. Plug and Play's agtech and food batches take no equity and charge no fees, and The Yield Lab now operates as a venture fund rather than a cohort accelerator. Every figure here is the program's own published number; where a program does not publish a figure, we say so instead of guessing.
Showing 5 of 5 programs, plus 4 that have ended
| Check size | Equity | Terms | Format | Next window | Signal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AgLaunch (AgLaunch 365)row-crop agtech with on-farm trials via Farmer Network | Not publishedAgLaunch 365 participants commit $100K in future equity to AgLaunch Farmers, LLC (based on a $2M valuation cap or equivalent) in exchange for AgLaunch's services and farm trial participation; the typical instrument is a post-money SAFE, used for both cash and in-kind investments. No equity percentage or standard cash investment amount is published. The program runs a multiphase structure: online application, a pitch and interview with a farmer selection committee, an in-person Challenge competition, a six week hybrid accelerator phase, then on-farm trials, with farmer engagement possible for up to two years. Cost share is available to offset farm trial expenses. | Not publishedAgLaunch 365 participants commit $100K in future equity to AgLaunch Farmers, LLC (based on a $2M valuation cap or equivalent) in exchange for AgLaunch's services and farm trial participation; the typical instrument is a post-money SAFE, used for both cash and in-kind investments. No equity percentage or standard cash investment amount is published. The program runs a multiphase structure: online application, a pitch and interview with a farmer selection committee, an in-person Challenge competition, a six week hybrid accelerator phase, then on-farm trials, with farmer engagement possible for up to two years. Cost share is available to offset farm trial expenses. | Mixed | TN | Hybrid | None confirmed | Oct 1, 2026 | Verified |
| Grow-NYfood and agriculture technology | $3,000,000 in prizes per round, including a $1,000,000 top prize | 2% to 3% (warrant: 3% of fully diluted capitalization for the $1,000,000 award, 2% for the $500,000 and $250,000 awards; winners may choose a SAFE instead) | Equity for cash | NY | In person | None confirmed | Oct 1, 2026 | Verified |
| Midwest Dairy Accelerator (with VentureFuel)dairy-based food and beverage products | Cash prizes of $20,000 for first place and $10,000 for the runner-up | Not publishedTen-week virtual accelerator run by Midwest Dairy, the dairy farmer organization for a ten-state region, with the innovation firm VentureFuel, for commercialized food and beverage products that use real dairy as a key ingredient. It ends with a final pitch event in Minneapolis, where the winner receives $20,000 and the runner-up $10,000. The page mentions no equity or fees. Companies must be generating revenue and headquartered in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas or eastern Oklahoma. The 2026 program took applications March 16 to May 5, 2026, ran July 6 to September 16, 2026, and had six startups. | Non-dilutive | MN | Remote | None confirmed | Oct 1, 2026 | Verified |
| Plug and Play AgTech & Foodagtech and food corporate-innovation batches | Not publishedOperator releases say Silicon Valley batches run three months and that startups can secure pilots, proofs of concept, and potential investment, all without equity requirements. Agtech was among the programs in the second Silicon Valley batches of 2025 (release dated September 29, 2025) and is listed among the programs presenting at the Silicon Valley November Summit, November 3 to 5, 2026, at Plug and Play's Sunnyvale headquarters. Agtech is among the 13 programs in the Silicon Valley Fall batches of 2026 (release dated September 29, 2026); the March 26, 2026 release on the first 2026 batches listed Food & Beverage but not Agtech. The agtech industry page names Topeka, Kansas, Plug and Play's agtech and animal health hub, as its program location and hosts an open startup intake form (a Western Growers Association form). | Not publishedOperator releases say Silicon Valley batches run three months and that startups can secure pilots, proofs of concept, and potential investment, all without equity requirements. Agtech was among the programs in the second Silicon Valley batches of 2025 (release dated September 29, 2025) and is listed among the programs presenting at the Silicon Valley November Summit, November 3 to 5, 2026, at Plug and Play's Sunnyvale headquarters. Agtech is among the 13 programs in the Silicon Valley Fall batches of 2026 (release dated September 29, 2026); the March 26, 2026 release on the first 2026 batches listed Food & Beverage but not Agtech. The agtech industry page names Topeka, Kansas, Plug and Play's agtech and animal health hub, as its program location and hosts an open startup intake form (a Western Growers Association form). | Equity-free | CA | Hybrid | None confirmed | Oct 1, 2026 | Verified |
| Techstars Future of Food Powered by Ecolab (successor to Techstars Farm to Fork)food safety, food systems, sustainable food production | $220,000 | 5% | Equity for cash | MN | In person | None confirmed | Oct 1, 2026 | Verified |
Programs that have ended
| Check size | Equity | Terms | Format | Next window | Signal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chobani IncubatorCPG food and beverage | $25,000 | 0% | Non-dilutive | NY | Hybrid | None | Sep 29, 2026 | VerifiedProgram endedThe operator has said this program ended, or its program pages are gone and it has shown no activity for two years or more. We keep the record so its history stays visible. |
| Food-Xfood innovation / foodtech | Not publishedEnded: SOSV's archive page at food-x.com says the program ran from 2014 through 2020, invested in 100 companies and has ceased running new cohorts. Its check size and equity percentage were never published on a primary source. | Not publishedEnded: SOSV's archive page at food-x.com says the program ran from 2014 through 2020, invested in 100 companies and has ceased running new cohorts. Its check size and equity percentage were never published on a primary source. | Equity for cash | NY | In person | None | Sep 29, 2026 | VerifiedProgram endedThe operator has said this program ended, or its program pages are gone and it has shown no activity for two years or more. We keep the record so its history stays visible. |
| Iowa AgriTech Acceleratoragtech (machinery, insurance, crop tech corridor) | Not publishedDefunct since January 2021 (dissolution announced by the board after four cohorts and 18 graduates). Press reports at closure described $40,000 seed investments for 6 percent equity, but this was never confirmed on an operator page, so amounts remain unpublished. | Not publishedDefunct since January 2021 (dissolution announced by the board after four cohorts and 18 graduates). Press reports at closure described $40,000 seed investments for 6 percent equity, but this was never confirmed on an operator page, so amounts remain unpublished. | Equity for cash | IA | In person | None | Sep 29, 2026 | VerifiedProgram endedThe operator has said this program ended, or its program pages are gone and it has shown no activity for two years or more. We keep the record so its history stays visible. |
| The Yield Lab (North America)agrifood tech venture investment | Not publishedEnded as an accelerator: The Yield Lab's site describes four regional venture funds and the nonprofit Yield Lab Institute, with no cohort program, and its North America page returns 404. Cultivation Capital, which the North America link leads to, says it partners with the Yield Lab on food and agtech investments of $100,000 to $1.5M; that is a venture check, not accelerator terms, so the investment field is not published. | Not publishedEnded as an accelerator: The Yield Lab's site describes four regional venture funds and the nonprofit Yield Lab Institute, with no cohort program, and its North America page returns 404. Cultivation Capital, which the North America link leads to, says it partners with the Yield Lab on food and agtech investments of $100,000 to $1.5M; that is a venture check, not accelerator terms, so the investment field is not published. | Equity for cash | MO | Hybrid | None | Sep 29, 2026 | VerifiedProgram endedThe operator has said this program ended, or its program pages are gone and it has shown no activity for two years or more. We keep the record so its history stays visible. |
Guides for AgTech & FoodTech founders
Plain-English mechanics for the terms these programs use.
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