Seedstock is bringing agricultural entrepreneurs and investors together

While the tech world has received the majority of investor attention over the last few years, Seedstock is out to make a case for entrepreneurs focused on sustainable agriculture as a viable investment choice.

By David Kuack

Seedstock in Los Angeles, Calif., is a young company, less than two years old. But it is a company that cofounder and managing partner Robert Puro said has a lot of potential.

“Seedstock was started because we saw that there was a growing opportunity with respect to sustainable agriculture as a viable economic opportunity,” Puro said.

The product that Seedstock offers is being a facilitator between entrepreneurs and investors.

“We looked at the major challenges facing the agricultural system and the amount of food that will need to be produced in order to supply a growing population. We looked at the world demand. We looked at that against the amount of land and water that are available. There are a lot of challenges, but there are also a lot of opportunities. We have become an aggregator of all of the startups and farms that are using sustainable practices to show that there is a groundswell of activity in this country.”

Puro said Seedstock is looking at companies that are trying to use sustainable practices that are helping those companies make money.

“We look at it from the perspective that sustainability is not going to exist unless it can make you money,” he said. “The other component is we want local economies to improve and we want to see the environment improve, but unfortunately those things can’t happen if the solutions that are used aren’t economically viable.”

Seedstock - Bringing Investors to Ag Entrepenuers.

Starting with a website

Seedstock began with a website to provide information for investors and entrepreneurs.

“A lot of what we have been doing with our website is building our brand and building trust among our reader base and our audience,” Puro said.”

He said the Seedstock website is a resource of information that people can’t find anywhere else.

“We track down the information and put it together and try to get investors interested in it,” he said. “We provide investors with information to make them more knowledgeable. Then we try to get the investors together with entrepreneurs, at an event for example. Our goal is to facilitate dialog between investors and entrepreneurs.”

Puro said that companies written about on the Seedstock website can be either large or small.

“We really try to look at a company objectively, not making any judgments,” he said. “In most cases we are writing business profiles, including start-ups.

“We might write about the challenges a company is facing with the LED lights it is using? How have its energy costs been impacted? What are the company’s profits? How much funding has it received? What considerations does sustainable agriculture play in the creation of the company’s product? What are its objectives?

“We try to stay away from the advocacy stuff. If company officials say that their company is trying to save the world, that’s them saying it, not us.”

Other information posted on the website includes research from relevant universities and product-related articles.

“It might be a 3-acre farm that is using an innovative business application that could be potentially implemented in a bigger operation,” Puro said.

Educational opportunities

The educational events sponsored by Seedstock are an integral part of achieving its goal of bringing entrepreneurs and investors together. Seedstock’s initial event was held on Nov. 27, 2011 at the University of California-San Diego Business School. It was a panel discussion on the state of agricultural entrepreneurship.

The company held its first conference on Sustainable Agriculture Innovation at the UCLA Anderson School of Management this past October.

“The goal of the conference was to really focus on the economic opportunities as well as the environmental and societal benefits of developing and investing in sustainable agricultural solutions, technology and practices,” Puro said.

The company is planning to increase the number of educational events that it sponsors.

Seedstock conference in September featured big to small businesses,
including greenhouse tomato grower Casey Houweling.

Gaining momentum

While starting a new company during a down economy may not have been the best timing, Puro is very excited about the opportunities for Seedstock.

“We want to facilitate more interest and get more investors who may be thinking about high tech and the Internet to think about the opportunities in farming and agriculture,” he said. “There are so many challenges that could be addressed. As sustainability continues to play a bigger role in agriculture there are more companies popping up. We are also seeing more business school students looking at ag ventures. There is definitely a feeling of momentum.”

For more: Seedstock, (424) 229-1460; http://www.seedstock.com.

David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; dkuack@gmail.com.

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