The agricultural and food industries are undergoing a significant change with the advent of new technologies that challenge the way crops are grown and the way they are managed, processed, and delivered. The increasing pressure for sustainability and the pace of acceleration of innovation ensure that having well-structured and well-supported pathways for commercialization become vital. Many brilliant AgTech ideas are doomed in the market due to a lack of good leadership, funding, and operational guidance.

Carrot Ventures is filling this gap by creating and funding a new AgTech company through a venture studio model that helps bring companies more quickly and builds long-term success.

Building High-Impact AgTech Companies

Carrot Ventures is based on a transformative hypothesis: great technologies should have the structure to turn into great investable companies. Rather than waiting for entrepreneurial teams to form organically, Carrot actively co-founds companies that are built on validated IP, assembled leadership, strategic governance and early investment support. This approach has a great impact on improving the chances of commercial success over independently founded startups. Carrot is an investor, but more importantly, Carrot is an active co-founding partner, shaping the basis of each company and creating the foundation for sustainable growth.

Defining AgTech with Broad Potential

The AgTech sphere is much broader than just the arena of farming. Carrot Ventures embraces this broad view using the value chain by sourcing innovations from all levels of the "Farm to Fork" value chain. Technologies can be from any sector, including digital technologies, biotechnology, industrial processes, human health and any technology with strong agricultural applications.

Their areas of interest include digital agriculture, animal health, food processing, logistics, food safety and value-added products. Carrot's model also supports the expansion of the market in parallel. It has helped intellectual-property owners discover agricultural value in technologies that have been designed for use in other industries.

Strengthening Commercialization through a Proven Studio Model

Verdex Capital has close to three decades of experience in investing in startups. It built Carrot Ventures with the aim of dissolving long-standing barriers in the commercialization of AgTech. Building a successful company requires proven IP, excellent leadership, a capable company structure, a compelling investment case, and sufficient seed capital.

Carrot is making all these elements work together in one framework. By finding technology, recruiting leaders, company formation and providing seed funding, Carrot assists each startup to hit the market with clarity, confidence and strong early traction.

Guiding Innovators through a Structured Formation Process

Carrot Ventures takes a distinct and rigorous approach to the development of promising technologies into mature and fully fledged companies. The process begins from the point of interest of the owner of the IP. A preliminary assessment and detailed due diligence then assess the commercial viability. If this is the right fit, Carrot negotiates an option agreement to get time for deeper evaluation.

Carrot then searches for experienced leaders, forms a new corporation with good legal structure, and assembles the IP owners, executives and Carrot as founding shareholders. Finally, seed financing ensues, supported by vetted technology, good governance and an investable business plan.

Enabling AgTech Co-Founders

Carrot Ventures is inhabited with companies that require capable leaders to commercialize and grow. Carrot seeks founders who are knowledgeable about the industry, have experience in operations and have entrepreneurial mindsets. Co-founding founders have a real advantage in that they enter a startup with an existing validated IP, a strong business structure, strategic aid and institutional investment. Leaders who wish to create meaningful impact in the field of agriculture find Carrot a powerful platform to launch innovation and success.

Supporting AgTech IP Owners

Inventors and researchers with promising AgTech often find the process of commercialization an intimidating one. Carrot Ventures offers a clear path through co-founding businesses and bringing operational expertise, governance, leadership recruitment, and initial capital. 

IP owners retain their equity and enjoy the benefits of working with a studio that accelerates the process of value creation while reducing the risks and isolation of building a company on their own.

Partnering with Researchers and Technology Transfer Offices

Universities and research institutions develop innovative technologies, but most fail to get the technologies to market because they lack access to commercialization resources.  Carrot Ventures fills this void both by creating new companies based on defensible IP and by linking research excellence and market opportunity.  For technology transfer offices pursuing strong commercialization partners, Carrot is a structured, credible pathway that increases the likelihood of industry adoption and long-term impact.

A Path Forward for Early-Stage Companies

Early-stage technologies can require new leadership, new plans, or a new and more robust commercialization structure to move forward. Carrot Ventures provides these teams with an opportunity to reposition their innovations by co-founding a new company in its studio model. This way, technologies have a better route to market success in an experienced venture-building environment.

Helping Corporations Unlock Value

Many corporations have non-core AgTech intellectual property of high potential that does not have enough internal support.  Carrot Ventures unlocks that value through the creation of new companies targeted at these technologies.  This approach allows the corporations to achieve commercial gains without having to apply extra internal resources, while ensuring that the future of the technology is in trusted, experienced hands.

Moving Forward with Confidence

Carrot Ventures is shifting the paradigm of how AgTech innovates to become a commercial product. By bringing proven technology, experienced leaders, strategic governance and dedicated capital into one studio model, Carrot strengthens new ventures, helping them to grow faster and with greater purpose. For inventors, executives, researchers and investors who are seeking to advance agriculture technology, Carrot Ventures is a catalyst for meaningful advances across the agriculture sector.

About the Leaders

Martin Vetter &Jim Hardin, Founding Partners of Carrot Ventures

Martin helps bring great technology to market. He brings his operating and financing expertise to bear on sourcing technologies, recruiting talent, negotiating investment terms, and enabling investee success. Martin earned a BEng from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and an MBA from the University of Calgary.

As a past company founder and entrepreneur, Jim has insight into the challenges of early-stage company formation, and the actions needed to address them. He draws on this experience to identify investment opportunities, define value propositions, and lead investment transactions, with a goal to build and finance innovative agricultural technology companies. Jim has worked closely with a variety of companies to build value and realize commercial opportunities including Baby Gourmet, Botaneco Inc., Livestock Water Recycling and Decisive Farming. Jim earned a BSc and a PhD from the University of Calgary.

 “We look for technologies anywhere across the “Farm to Fork” value chain that solve substantive market problems and scale efficiently. We are most interested in technologies that significantly improve sustainability.”