Nebraska

Lincoln, NE - Nebraska is well positioned to be a hub for sustainable agriculture technology commonly called AgTech because of its strong agricultural diversity, economy, and renowned research and innovation resources. An increase in the amount of risk capital is needed to keep up with the growing demand by startups. Educating and leveraging private investors would facilitate the strengthening of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem across the State. Creating a network of private seed capital and providing funds for operational assistance to potential high-growth businesses to enable them to be investment-ready by private investors is needed to continue growing the State’s innovation agricultural economy.

In September 2017, EDA invested $300,000 through the Regional Innovation Strategies Program. Invest Nebraska Corporation’s project will reach the State’s 93 counties, and will unlock regional capital to support a robust early-stage capital ecosystem that is currently lacking in the State. Building a coordinated cluster around agriculture, the State’s number one industry, will lead to an increase in innovation, more investment-ready companies, a greater number of startups receiving seed funding, and higher wage jobs in the AgTech cluster.

It is estimated that 90 new AgTech companies and 488 jobs will be created as a result of the project.