The Yield Lab, the United States’ first food and agriculture technology (AgTech) accelerator, announced today its 2017 cohort. Launched in 2015 by a group of Ag industry experts and executives, the Yield Lab has invested $2.3M in 15 AgTech companies from across the world.

Selected companies receive $100,000 in funding and participate in a nine-month accelerator program. During the program the companies take part in hands-on training, mentoring, and networking opportunities with the agriculture institutions the St. Louis metro area and Midwest have to offer.

“Over the past three years we have reviewed 415 applications from all over the globe,” said Yield Lab Managing Director Thad Simons. “Finding a way to sustainably feed the world’s growing population is a human issue and we believe our new cohort will help immensely in the efforts to finding innovative production methods and technologies.”

Its second cohort in 2016 included APSE and Nanoguard Technologies from St. Louis along with five other startups.

In Summer 2016, the Yield Lab announced the launch of Yield Lab Ireland an accelerator based on the Yield Lab St. Louis model that operates out of Galway, Ireland.

Here are the companies that made it into Yield Lab’s third cohort:

Aptimmune Biologics

(Champaign, IL)
Aptimmune Biologics is developing and bringing to market a portfolio of revolutionary mucosal vaccines that provide superior efficacy against the most costly viral diseases impacting the swine industry worldwide, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus (PRRSV) and influenza.

GlucanBio

(St. Louis, MO and Madison, WI)
GlucanBio is an early stage company that repurposes lignocellulosic (non-food) biomass into high value chemicals and biomaterials. GlucanBio’s proprietary solvent technology obtains value from all three of the biomass components (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) and decreases processing and product purification costs.

Lean Media

(St. Louis, MO)
Lean Media is building the first Data Management Platform powered by proprietary agriculture data and dedicated to bringing agribusiness companies and organizations a new level of control when targeting verified farmers, producers and rural America audiences via online advertising.

Think.Eat.Live

(Wildwood, MO)
Think.Eat.Live has developed SunFlour®, a “super flour” made from sunflour seeds. SunFlour® provides 3-4X more protein & fiber and 10X the vitamins & minerals of traditional gluten free flours.