Dropcopter, a tenant at the Tech Garden in Syracuse, on Wednesday night won a $500,000 prize in the Grow-NY agribusiness competition. The two-day pitch event was held in Rochester. RealEats America of Geneva won the $1 million top prize. (Photo credit: Tech Garden Twitter page)
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Dropcopter, a tenant of Syracuse’s Tech Garden, on Wednesday captured one of two $500,000 prizes at the pitch event of the inaugural Grow-NY agribusiness competition held in Rochester.
RealEats America of Geneva won the $1 million grand prize, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.
Three companies from Ithaca — Capro-X, Combplex, and Whole Healthy Food — each won $250,000 prizes.
On its website, Dropcopter describes itself as “the leader in automated pollination of orchard crops via unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). We help growers improve farming efficiency and drive healthy crop yield growth.”
Based in Geneva, RealEats was chosen as the grand-prize winner following a two-day summit in Rochester. The 17 selected finalists pitched their businesses to a live audience and panel of experienced judges for their share of the prize money.
On its website, RealEats says “…it’s our mission to make it easy for anybody to get and enjoy real food — meals cooked by chefs using whole, natural ingredients that aren’t processed and don’t have any added junk or other stuff you wouldn’t want to eat.”
Nearly 900 startups, companies, investors, resource providers, researchers, entrepreneurs, farmers, and students attended the two-day event. In addition to the pitch competition, the summit included an exhibition hall with more than 70 food and agricultural exhibitors from across New York.
It also included a symposium with a series of panels that “tackled some of the biggest opportunities and challenges” facing the food and agriculture industry today, per the release.
About the competition
The Grow-NY contest is focused on growing a lasting food and agriculture innovation cluster in Central New York, the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier regions. The competition, which will run for three rounds, offers a total of $3 million in funding to “innovative, high-growth” startups from across the globe focused on the food and agriculture industry.
The Upstate Revitalization Initiatives connected with the three regions — CNY Rising, Finger Lakes Forward, and Southern Tier Soaring — is providing the funding for the Grow-NY competition.
Cornell University is administering the competition through its Center for Regional Economic Advancement. Grow-NY winners must commit to operating in the Central New York, Finger Lakes, or Southern Tier regions for at least one year.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
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