SLC Ventures, the startup investment and acceleration arm of SLC Agrícola, on February 10, promoted the “Demoday” of its first Startup Boosting Program (“Venture Builder”). Held at Instituto Caldeira, in Porto Alegre (RS), the meeting marked the “graduation” of the six early stage startups selected for the program, who presented their evolution during the six-month journey.
Startups that participated in the program (and that went through a filter of a total of 176 registered startups) received R$ 30 thousand as “startup capital” to help develop their solutions. The startups were: Cellva Ingredients, ConnectBio, CropsTeam, Culte, MititechAgro and Zeit. Each had a SLC executive as a sponsor, as well as access to the company’s experts and external mentors as references in the agribusiness innovation ecosystem.
At the opening, the CEO of SLC Agrícola, Aurélio Pavinato, congratulated the Innovation team and highlighted that one of the company’s objectives is to continue to grow and innovate. “Increasingly, we want to think and act differently and act in an innovative and more efficient manner,” he said. Following this, the Head of Innovation, Frederico Logemann, gave an overview of the company’s initiatives on this front.
The Ecosystem Leader of SLC Ventures, Carlos Eduardo Aranha, presented some numbers of the program: over 500 hours of involvement from SLC Agrícola professionals, over 40 meetings with startups, over 20 professionals involved, over 25 mentorships executed and an average satisfaction rating from startups of 9.2. “I believe that Demoday achieved its goals. In addition to participation of the company’s Officers, we had the presence of important players in the agro innovation ecosystem of Rio Grande do Sul and Brazil. The results of the program were consistent and the next steps involve further assessments of these startups, to see the possibility of future investments”, he emphasized. At the end, the representatives of the startups received a trophy for their participation in the event.
