Leon Mexico, Birmingham, Alabama & Basel, Switzerland – May 28th 2019 – Kirchner Group and the Thought for Food (TFF) foundation are collaborating to launch the 2019 Mexico AgTech Competition, a new platform where local entrepreneurs can “pitch” their startups and projects to a global audience of students, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and investors. The event will provide Mexican agtech startups with the opportunity to gain funding, mentoring, and international recognition.
The “2019 Mexico AgTech Competition presented by Kirchner Group & Thought For Food” will feature pitches from top Mexican startups presenting their solutions for agriculture’s major challenges. Projects are expected to range from prototypes, to startup companies. Event speakers include the Kirchner Impact Foundation’s Steve Dauphin, former Kirchner Food Fellows, and C3L Associates Anthony Coggiola among others.
Prizes include $5,000 USD and help from Kirchner Group professionals to assist in developing their projects further. Additionally, winning teams will gain premium access to the “Thought for Food Digital Labs” a unique next-gen accelerator platform to be launched on October 2019, as well as tickets to the Thought For Food Summit. The teams will be judged by the current Kirchner Food Fellows on the basis of investment readiness, regional/ local relevance, innovative solutions, implementation & scalability, uniqueness and management team capabilities.
“In addition to our recently launched Kirchner Food Fellowship Mexico, this event is further proof of the Kirchner Group’s commitment to impact activities and our desire to bring our decades of advisory, operational and M&A experience in the agriculture sector in Mexico, commented Blair Kirchner, Managing Director and Co-head of Impact Activities at Kirchner Group – “We are excited to be collaborating with Thought for Food to ensure a world class event with the signature TFF energy and audience engagement.”
The event will take place on June 8th 2019 at the iconic IMAX Theater at “Explora science museum” in the vibrant city of León the largest city in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico which is known for its economic development and importance in the agriculture and food industries. The event is also supported by the Innovation Direction of the Municipality of León, Guanajuato and the Knowledge Economy Promotion Direction of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Higher Education of the State of Guanajuato.
“We are honored to partner with a great organization like Kirchner Group on a number of initiatives including hosting this international event in our city. We look forward to seeing innovative companies and entrepreneurs finding unique solutions to the global food security issues,” said Omar Silva Palancares Director of Innovation of the City of Leon.
“Mexico is an exciting hub for agtech innovation, and we are thrilled to be part of this event that is focused on empowering Mexican startups and connecting them to global opportunities,” stated Christine Gould, Founder & CEO of the Thought for Food Foundation. “Thought For Food works with game-changing startups from every part of the world, and we couldn’t be happier to bring to life this regional event with our long-term partner Kirchner Group.”
“I´m excited to see Kirchner Group and Thought for Food work together to create a new kind of event for our region,” added Adrian Garcia-Casarrubias Kirchner Food Fellowship Director and Thought for Food Latin America Regional Coordinator. “Our vision is that this becomes an annual event and a permanent platform for AgTech companies in the region and one that can be replicated in other parts of the world.”
Thought for Food
Thought For Food (TFF) is dedicated to engaging, empowering and investing in the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs in food and agriculture. They have built a unique platform to unlock the potential of young entrepreneurs in more than 160 countries, creating breakthrough ideas and cultivating a pipeline of exciting investment opportunities and world-class talent that will transform the food system. Thought For Food is thrilled to support the Mexico AgTech Competition as one of its many endeavours to support impact-focused entrepreneurs around the world. Learn more at www.thoughtforfood.org.
Christine Gould
Founder & CEO, Thought for Food Foundation
+41795579952
christine@thoughtforfood.org
Kirchner Food Fellowship
The Kirchner Food Fellowship, a Kirchner Impact Foundation (501 (c) (3)) initiative and a pioneer of the lean focused investment team movement, harnesses the power of millennials to find, fund and assist promising socially responsible agricultural businesses. The program provides unprecedented “real world” capital allocation training for select teams of university students. The Fellowship applies a problem-based learning and solutions approach with the goal of enhancing capital efficiency, lessening capital deployment costs, shortening time frames and increasing the likelihood of investment success. The Kirchner Impact Foundation, one of the “returning arms” of Kirchner Group, focuses on harnessing the positive power of enterprise to make a difference in addressing some of the most important issues of today.
Steve Dauphin
Director, Kirchner Impact Foundation
205.602.9845
sdauphin@kirchnerimpact.com
www.fundthefood.com
Kirchner Group
Kirchner Group was founded in 1985 as a boutique advisory firm and today operates various subsidiaries, providing advisory services (M&A, assessments, diligence) and operational support (interim management, workouts, turnarounds) as well as asset management (dedicated, portfolio optimization) – all leveraging a proprietary approach that dovetails domain and process expertise.
Throughout the decades Kirchner Group has been internationally recognized for its unique business model centered around creating value while promoting values: “earning while returning”. The firm has also established a reputation for building and rebuilding important business and social paradigms based on its deep entrepreneurial orientation.
Kirchner Group’s clients and partners include early stage to mid-market companies, venture capital and private equity firms as well as family offices and some of the world’s largest insurance companies, commercial banks and institutional investors. www.kirchnergroup.com
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Blair Kirchner
Managing Director & Co-Head of Impact Activities
Kirchner Group
902.817.2405
bgkirchner@kirchnergroup.com