Rabobank and RocketSpace launch food & ag tech accelerator

Rabobank and RocketSpace announced the launch of Terra, the food & ag tech accelerator - a first-of-its-kind program bringing together the

industry's most disruptive startups and progressive corporations to fuel cross-industry innovation.

Terra was designed to address a powerful industry shift - the emerging growth of food & agriculture startups - while simultaneously leaving behind the traditional accelerator model and enabling open innovation between corporations and startups.

Rabobank, the program's founding corporate partner, will be joined by a diverse group of companies from the food and agriculture sectors who will collaborate with startups on real-life product testing and go-to-market solutions. "Companies around the world are responding to an industry that must adapt to tremendous change, from new consumer preferences on one end to a heightened need to feed more people with nutritious food from fewer resources," said Rabobank North America Wholesale CEO Rajiv Singh. "Increasing access to food, enhancing stability in the global food value chain and improving nutrition are critical pillars of Rabobank's global Banking for Food strategy, and we think the innovations and technologies that we'll uncover through this accelerator will move the needle." Selected startups will have the unique opportunity to work from RocketSpace's tech campus in downtown San Francisco, among its community of more than 150 startup members. The eight-week tailored curriculum led by industry experts will allow startups to sharpen their product and pitch before the eight-week product validation phase. Startups do not need to give up equity or pay for admission to join the program. "Rather than limit innovation to within their four walls, forward-thinking brands are building an ecosystem of collaborators - big and small," said Duncan Logan, Founder and CEO of RocketSpace. "It'll be fascinating to see this diverse group come together and build real-life solutions to address tomorrow's food and agriculture needs." Unlike other accelerator programs, Terra immerses participants in the full innovation process from beginning to end, in order to see the products evolve first-hand and provide real-time feedback. The program's product validation phase will help startups move past a proof of concept to a commercially viable product, leading up to the final demo day in January 2017. KitchenTown, a food startup incubator and commercial production facility just outside San Francisco in San Mateo, CA, will serve as the program's official test kitchen. Interested startups and corporates can learn more about the program and qualifications here: www.terraaccelerator.com. More information on RocketSpace's series of Industry Tech Accelerators:http://info.rocketspace.com/industry-accelerator-program.