A New Searchable Directory Focuses on Women Innovators in AgriFoodTech

Innovations and technologies in agrifoodtech are tackling big impact issues such as food security and food waste.

But everywhere we look, the gender inequity in the distribution of opportunities and resources is painfully obvious. Looking at the 10 largest agrifoodtech financings in 2020, 100% of the founders of these 10 companies are men. Of the top 20 financings, just two are known to have women co-founders.

In 2019, only 7% of investment money that went into agrifoodtech deals went to startups founded by women, according to a 2019 report — ‘Money Where Our Mouths Are’ (MWOMA).

The bottom line is that while the number of women founders, leaders, and innovators in the agrifoodtech sector — which extends into agbio and foodbio — continues to grow, the voices (and exposure) of women in the industry remain few and far between.

Challenge often creates opportunity and this is what a handful of women in agrifoodtech saw when they independently began collecting the names of women in the sector into a list simply because no such list existed. The women included agtech entrepreneurs, investors, and journalists who write about agrifoodtech. In 2020, they became aware of each others’ lists and decided to combine forces and merge them into a single directory, the ‘Women in AgTech Directory.’