Ottawa County, MI – Over the past decade, accelerators have become an essential part of the new business startup and scale up journey. Michigan is home to several of these accelerators, and later in 2019, ACRE AgTech will become the only Michigan business accelerator dedicated to serving the State’s second largest industry – agriculture. ACRE AgTech has two key ingredients for success in this new endeavor. First, Tim Parker, president of the Grand Angels venture group, was elected ACRE AgTech’s Board Chair this month. Parker has tremendous expertise in venture deals and evaluating startups. Under his leadership, ACRE will be well positioned to select the most talented innovators to participate in the new accelerator program. Second, becoming a launch member of GAN will help pave the way for the ACRE AgTech Accelerator to bring innovative solutions from across the country to Michigan’s agriculture industry. GAN is a highly curated community of independent accelerators, partners, and investors. They create opportunities around the world for startups to access the human and financial capital they need to create and grow their businesses, wherever they are.
Over the last ten years, more than 9,400 startups have gone through a GAN accelerator, and GAN data shows that 85% of those startups are still in business today. Among GAN corporate partners are Amazon, Cisco, American Airlines, IBM, Land Rover, Microsoft, Michelin, Mastercard, Universal Music Group, and others. Parker is confident that being a GAN accelerator will be very beneficial. “With this kind of networking and turnkey access to best practices observed globally by accelerators, we will be able to give our innovators a very competitive edge,” Parker commented.
Being a part of the GAN community offers great opportunities for its startups. Being GAN means having access to nearly 30 corporate partners that are excited to engage with startups, and engagement with investors interested in hearing ideas from authentic startup founders – and this is just what the agriculture industry in Michigan needs. The goal of the ACRE AgTech Accelerator program is to accurately and efficiently scout for the right agtechnology to meet today’s challenges in agriculture, then help the innovators behind the technologies launch their businesses.
ACRE AgTech has been providing connections and resources to agtech entrepreneurs across Michigan since December 2014. ACRE, a non-profit entrepreneurial support organization, receives support from GreenStone Farm Credit Services, Watson IP, BizStream, Rehmann, Next Creative, Ottawa County, and the State of Michigan. For more information about ACRE AgTech and the launch of the ACRE AgTech Accelerator, please visit the website at www.acreagtech.com, follow on twitter @ACREAgTech, or contact them at info@acreagtech.com or 616.994.4745.