Agriculture Technology

VIC AgTech Grant Program

  • Applications are open until: 30 June 2024
  • Grants: up to $50,000

LaunchVic has worked with Agriculture Victoria once again to increase support for early-stage businesses. AgTech startups around Victoria by giving small sums of working finance quickly. Startups develop capabilities and go to the next level of development.

AgTech is a group of technologies that provide tools, data, and expertise to the agricultural industry to make better, more educated on-farm decisions or to increase production or sustainability.

Startups are technology-based firms with great potential for impact that employ innovation and/or address market scalability. Their product, service, platform, or hardware is motivated by technology.

Key Requirements

Key Assessment Criteria:

  • Business Overview
    • Give an overview of the startup, including an explanation of the AgTech business, the startup’s solution to the agriculture challenge, and how the startup is handling the problem in a novel way.
    • Describe the stage of development of your startup (for example, if a product on the market is yet under development, consumers, testing conducted, and so on.)
    • Outline all previous funds received by the Startup grants and investments (where appropriate).
    • Put your usual investor pitch presentation here. Please include only one slide with your goals for the next 12 months and any potential roadblocks to something from occurring.
  • Capability of execution
    • Outline significant employees that are currently employed in the company, such as employees and the original team (if relevant).
    • Outline the founders’ AgTech startup experience and skills industry, or equivalent prior work experience, as well as experience launching and/or running a startup.
    • Outline your educational and professional growth plans to date, including participation in the pre-accelerator and/or accelerator programs that are available.
  • Ongoing commitment to developing the business
    • Describe the founders’ contributions to date (including time as well as financials)
    • How much time will the founders and key people devote to the project business during the six-month grant period?
  • Visible signs of early traction and potential for business success
    • Provide information on your company’s current traction, including revenue generated, the number of customers, and the number of product trials (paid or unpaid).
    • Please upload any letters of support from current or potential customers (not mandatory).
  • Financials
    • Provide details on the following:
      • What the grant funds will be used for and what the expected results will be
      • Contributions in cash and/or in-kind by the Applicant (optional but encouraged will be regarded favorably).
      • Provide a project budget (fill in the budget table), including income and expenditure. The Expenditure of LaunchVic Grant cannot be utilized for anything other than business and product development costs.

What is eligible for funding?

Eligible expenditure includes:

  • operating costs
  • gaining access to company development services

The startup must not be involved with:

  • tobacco or tobacco-related products;
  • cluster munitions and other controversial weapons;
  • thermal coal;
  • gambling;
  • logging of old-growth forests;
  • uranium;
  • unregulated animal testing;
  • live cattle and/or sheep exports; or
  • fracking

What companies are eligible for funding?

Applicants must satisfy the following eligibility criterion:

  • Meet the definition of an AgTech Startup as defined by LaunchVic.
  • Be a registered business: A registered business is one that:
    • having an ABN (Australian Business Number)
    • being registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) if required
    • being one of the entities listed below:
      • an entity incorporated in Australia
      • a corporate trustee acting on behalf of a trust
      • a registered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation (The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
      • a partnership
      • a sole trader
  • Based in Victoria – Applicants must have at least 50% of their assets and workers in Victoria. A person with a primary residence in Victoria should be the founder.
  • Stage – Meet the definition of an Idea-to-Early-Stage startup as defined by LaunchVic.
  • To date, funds have been raised – If a startup has raised more than $500,000 (ex GST) (including funding), it is considered successful. It will not be eligible for funding under this grant cycle if it has received funds. Unless otherwise, the LaunchVic board or its authorised executive committee must approve it.
  • Follow the Victorian Government’s policy on ESG Prohibited Activities

Is this grant competitive or entitlement-based?

Competitive. Your application will be assessed among other applications by a judging panel.

How can I increase my chances of winning this grant?

By engaging an accredited government grants consultant, such as Avant Group.

Competitive grants often require significant business case development and project analysis to support the application, this may include detailed presentations supporting the project’s merit, projected sales, cost-benefit analysis and more.

As part of your engagement with Avant Group, your account manager will assess the required documents and will provide the following as needed to support your grant submission.

Grant application writeup including a detailed presentation illustrating how the grant funding will contribute to your project, how the funding will contribute to the project’s budget, a project milestone plan, delivery timeline, impact on employment if applicable and a breakdown of the management and leadership team for the project

  • Industry analysis presentation
  • Competitor Analysis Presentation
  • Marketing and Sales Analysis Presentation
  • 3-5 year Cashflow Forecast
  • 3-5 year Balance Sheet Forecast
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis of Grant Funding
  • End-to-end grant application including information collating, analysis and application writing
  • CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) cost-benefit analysis
  • Stakeholder relations and Risk Mitigation Plans
  • Any other relevant forecasting that will support your application

How can I get help with my application? Or know if I’m likely to win funding?

Avant Group offers a no-obligation assessment of your eligibility for funding and will assess your likelihood of a successful grant application.