March 4, 2019, Taipei, Taiwan - -The size of global venture capital has exceeded 100 billion US dollars, and the annual growth rate of food & agriculture startups is nearly three times higher than the average of all startups, which fully demonstrates the market potential of food and agriculture startups. Seeing the potential of the global trend, HaoShi Foundation, which has been dedicated to fostering Taiwan's food and agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship, launched the "HaoShi Accelerator Seed Program" in November 2018 to help create the next unicorn among food and agriculture startups in Taiwan. It will also set a new standard for the acceleration and guidance of food and agriculture startups, as it is the first accelerator targeted at food and agriculture industry in Taiwan.
Judy Ouyang, CEO of the HaoShi Foundation, said that "HaoShi Foundation, as a non-profit organization, launched the 'HaoShi Accelerator Seed Program ', and becoming Taiwan's first food and agriculture accelerator. HaoShi Accelerator aims at being the home for food and agriculture entrepreneurs in Taiwan which increases transparency, sustainability, and health of the food and agriculture ecosystem for the next generation of entrepreneurs, investors, and business by developing new trusting supply chains, impacting new products, services, processes and markets in an inclusive and diversified food and agriculture ecosystem.”
'HaoShi Accelerator Seed Program' focuses on four areas of the food and agricultural industry value chain, including: agriculture technology, agri-food production, supply chain and retail channels, and future food user experiences, providing a four-month acceleration program and mentor counseling service, including a three-staged curriculum of “innovate”, “elevate” and “activate” and various workshops on business strategy, user experience, food and agriculture entrepreneurship.
In addition, one of the most significant features of the HaoShi Accelerator is the collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which exclusively adopts the MIT Venture Mentoring Service (VMS) to allow the team to connect with the food and agricultural community under the guidance of an exclusive group of mentors, and further create convincing business plans and fundraising programs in order to help the teams with early product and business models to deliver new solutions that address current food supply and agriculture needs from local to global scale.
Another feature of the HaoShi Accelerator is to operate in a non-profit model and actively connect international resources to foster Taiwan's food and agriculture startups. The Accelerator started to recruit team from August last year (2018), and selected 11 teams mainly covering the areas of agricultural technology, sustainable agri-food, alternative food product development. The HaoShi Foundation will host a Demo Day for its startup teams on March 22nd to demonstrate the startups’ performances after receiving 4 months of free acceleration service.
The foundation will also invite well-known food& agriculture accelerators and venture capitalists from the US, Israel and Singapore to share the latest trends and experiences in food and agriculture startups and innovation.
About HaoShi HaoShi Foundation, established in June 2017, is a one of a kind non-profit organization who’s mission is to foster startups with the purpose of promoting awareness of nutrition health education, advancing food and agriculture eco-system of sustainability and drive innovations in new food and agriculture technology. In collaboration with MIT( Massachusetts Institute of Technology ) in 2017, HaoShi has launched the "Beyond Food Boot Camp” to inspire and motivate the young entrepreneurs through a series of educational courses and business development events. In addition, HaoShi Foundation has partnered with MIT Professional Education Program (MIT PE) to introduce and connect its prestigious research scholars to young entrepreneurs by sharing updated perspectives, industry trends and innovations in next gen agricultural advancement.
About HaoShi Accelerator Seed Program HaoShi Accelerator Seed Program boldly launched in November 2018 as Taiwan's first and only accelerator focusing on food and agriculture sectors to boost food and agriculture startups and encourage entrepreneurship . HaoShi accelerator aims at being the home for food and agriculture entrepreneurs in Taiwan which increases transparency, sustainability, and health of the food and agriculture ecosystem for the next generation of entrepreneurs, investors, and business by developing new trusting supply chains, impacting new products, services, processes and markets in an inclusive and diversified food and agriculture ecosystem. The program empowers entrepreneurs to adopt creative business models and innovative technologies to develop new solutions that address current food and agriculture’s sector needs from local to global scales.
