Forty startups vied for the 2nd Level of the DOST-PCAARRD Agri-Aqua Innovation Challenge through a two-day Pitch Feedback Session last June 23-24, 2022. To remain in the competition, the startups composed of 20 professional and 20 student teams pitched their technology-based agri-businesses to a nine-member panel of judges from DOST-PCAARRD, the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).
Prior to the pitch session, AIM and MAP mentored these startups to highlight the market relevance, product creativity, and business viability of their S&T creations. For the first level of the competition, each team received seed money of P10,000 to conduct customer discovery and market validation for their budding creations and agri-businesses.
The top 10 professional startups and top 10 student teams will be selected for the 2nd level of the competition, dubbed as product iteration and business traction phase. The top 20 will continue with a four-month mentorship sessions by top industry experts to enhance the value of their technologies/services and business models. Each startup team will receive seed money of P25,000 to support their activities under this phase. Winners of the competition will be determined through their final business pitch via Demo Day on November 9, 2022.
The panel of speakers who greeted the competing startups included DOST Undersecretary for R&D Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara; AIM Head School of Executive Education and Lifelong Learning, Professor Alberto G. Mateo, Jr.; and MAP Vice-President Dr. Donald Patrick Lim. The panel of judges includes DOST-PCAARRD’s Technology Transfer and Promotion Division (TTPD) Director Noel A. Catibog; TTPD’s Commercialization Section Head Ms. Lucy A. Lastimosa; DOST-PCAARRD Former Deputy Executive Director for R&D Dr. Danilo C. Cardenas; MAP Chair (Agribusiness Committee) Mr. Oscar A. Torralba; MAP Member (Agribusiness Committee) Mr. Phillip L. Ong; AIM Adjunct Faculty members Prof. Matthew George O. Escobido, Prof. Melissa Anne DS. Balmaceda, and Prof. Tyrone Stevenson T. Chua; MAP Vice-Chair (NextGen Committee) Ms. Deliza Goze Ridoloso; and University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Associate Professor (retired) Dr. Felipe San Pedro Dela Cruz, Jr.
The 20 Startup Qualifiers are the following:
1. AgriTips
2. AquaFuture
3. BioFloc
4. DexPro Livestock
5. FarmBox
6. FarmJuan
7. FiberTech
8. G2G
9. HormoGroe
10. Insiklo
11. Kamino Algae
12. ScireTech
13. SDRC Green Builders
14. Shiftech Marine
15. SmartFarms
16. SurePlus
17. The Greenhouse
18. Uproot
19. V.O.R.T.Ex
20. Waste4Good
The 20 Student Team Qualifiers are the following:
1. AGOS - Technological Institute of the Philippines
2. Agrero - University of Southeastern Philippines
3. AgSmarter - Central Luzon State University
4. AquaGenTech - University of Santo Tomas
5. AquaLink - Batangas State University
6. FreshBox - University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines
7. GreenStacks - Saint Louis University
8. I-Sense Meat Quality Detector - LORMA Colleges
9. JackMeat - Laguna State Polytechnic University
10. Lyka’s Seacharon - University of Southern Mindanao
11. Meatify - Samar State University
12. Padyak (Pedal Powered Grass Trimmer) - Technological Institute of the Philippines
13. PigSys - Batangas State University
14. Pilifines - Bicol University
15. PilipiNiyog - Technological Institute of the Philippines
16. Portable Palay Drying Machine (PPDM) - LORMA Colleges
17. Quaddy - Samar State University
18. ReCool Smartbox - University of Science and Technology of the Philippines
19. S2DS Tech - Western Philippines University
20. Urban Vertical Ulang Farming - Laguna State Polytechnic University
The level-2 qualifiers will be announced on July 1, 2022.