EarthSense Selected for Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator
EarthSense to advance technology for improving crop breeding with Danforth Plant Science Center and the National Renewable Energy Lab
May 21, 2020 -- The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), a technology incubator and platform funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), today announced that it has selected EarthSense, Inc. to join the program as a member of IN2’s seventh cohort.
The selected companies share a focus on developing technologies that support the agricultural sector while reducing environmental impact. EarthSense will work with crop geneticists from the Danforth Center to validate and commercialize the high-throughput field phenotyoping data delivered by EarthSense. EarthSense data enable the crop breeders to use next generation of crop breeding technologies and rapidly advance the sustainability, resilience, and profitability of crops.
“This support from the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator is a one-of-kind opportunity for EarthSense“ said Chinmay Soman, CEO and co-founder of EarthSense. “Working with world leading scientist at the Danforth Center and the entrepreneurial ecosystem put together by Wells Fargo and NREL will help accelerate our impact on agriculture, starting with better seeds for farmers.“
Agtech investing has shown great promise even with current economic uncertainties. A recent market analysis predicts investment dollars to reach $6.9 billion this year, doubling since $3.4 billion in 2017. The IN2 program expanded its focus to agtech in 2018 to address the growing impact of the agricultural sector on carbon emissions.
“On average, agriculture accounts for nearly 13 percent of global carbon emissions,” said Ramsay Huntley, Sustainable Finance Strategist at Wells Fargo. “IN2 is uniquely positioned to reduce the environmental impact of food production by validating promising, early-stage, clean agricultural technologies and accelerating their respective paths to commercialization.”
EarthSense will conduct research and development activities at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, a program partner and the world’s largest independent plant science institute. The company will receive up to $250,000 in technical assistance with the opportunity for follow-on funding, and access to state-of-the-art expertise and resources from the Danforth Center, Wells Fargo, NREL and other IN2 partners.
“The companies selected for Cohort 7 provide a window into the next chapter of agriculture. Their technologies are hyper-focused on optimizing efficiencies and scaling sustainable agricultural practices in order to feed a growing population,” said Trish Cozart, IN2 program manager at NREL. “Our partners at Danforth are at the intersection of science, innovation and commercialization, and we’re pleased to connect their deep domain expertise and robust research capabilities with startup innovations.”
EarthSense was first nominated by an IN2 Channel Partner––part of a nationwide network of more than 60 cleantech and agtech business incubators, accelerators, universities and industry experts—before undergoing in-depth review by Wells Fargo, the Danforth Center and IN2’s expert industry advisory board.
About EarthSense: EarthSense is creating dramatic new possibilities in agriculture with their innovative platform that tightly integrates autonomous robotics, machine-learning, and field management algorithms. Their first robot—TerraSentia—is helping accelerate crop improvement and agricultural product development by providing large quantities of accurate in-field plant trait data rapidly and at low cost, especially for under-canopy traits that cannot be sensed by other methods. EarthSense is now working with farmers to create robots that enable sustainable and profitable agriculture around the world. For more information, visit earthsense.co.
About the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2): The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) is a $30 million technology incubator and platform funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation. Co-administered by and housed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, IN2’s mission is to speed the path to market for early-stage, clean-technology entrepreneurs. Launched in 2014 with an initial focus on supporting scalable solutions to reduce the energy impact of commercial buildings, IN2 has since expanded its focus to advance technologies that address the sustainable production of agriculture and housing affordability. Companies selected for participation in the program receive up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding from Wells Fargo, technical support and validation from experts at NREL and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and ongoing connections to organizations across value chains. For more information, visit in2ecosystem.com.
About Wells Fargo: Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,500 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, and the internet (wellsfargo.com). With approximately 261,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. With its corporate philanthropy, Wells Fargo aims to pave a path to stability and financial success for underserved communities by focusing on housing affordability, small business growth, and financial health, among other local community needs. In 2018, Wells Fargo donated $444 million to nearly 11,000 nonprofits. For 10 consecutive years, Wells Fargo has held the honor of No. 1 in workplace giving by United Way Worldwide. Wells Fargo team members also actively support communities by donating more than 2 million hours of volunteer time in the last year. News, insights and more information on the company’s overall corporate responsibility are available at Wells Fargo Stories and www.wellsfargo.com/impact.