California investment firm partners with Indiana startups for agricultural advancement

The Silicon Valley continues to get in on Midwest advancement. California’s own SVG Partners, an investment and tech firm, has partnered with Indiana companies to help with agricultural practices and enterprises in the region. The partnership is part of an expansion of SVG Partners’ THRIVE AgTech program that will include Midwest-based public and private entities like the National Pork Board, AgriNovus Indiana, Elanco Animal Health, and Purdue University. The THRIVE accelerator program, which was created in 2014, should improve technologies that monitor animal health and increase the efficiency of agricultural practices. “Monitoring animal health and preventing animal disease outbreaks is vital to our food supply chain,” said SVG Partners founder and CEO John Hartnett in a press release made available by Purdue University. “We look forward to leveraging our new partnerships with the National Pork Board and AgriNovus Indiana, as well as our existing partner Land O’Lakes to provide strategic and technical expertise and key resources to startup companies developing technologies for livestock producers.” Hartnett added that there is increased opportunity for investment in Indiana and other Midwestern markets. “Working with new local partners in Indiana, we will be able to build on the success of our West Coast-based accelerator in order to deliver targeted technology to livestock farmers in the region and beyond,” Hartnett said. For its part, Purdue is one of the top agricultural universities in not just the region, but the entire country. Representatives from the school said they are excited at the opportunity of being included in the successful accelerator program. “The technologies coming out of the outstanding research in agriculture, veterinary medicine and across campus support a strong pipeline of technology commercialization and startup creation,” said Greg Deason, senior vice president of entrepreneurship and place making for Purdue Research Foundation. “We are excited about what THRIVE will bring to the Midwest in advancing the entire region’s growth in the agrosciences and agbiosciences.”