Venture fund formed to invest in Nebraska-based ag startups | Business







Birds Eye Robotics

Birds Eye Robotics co-founder Scott Niewohner speaks about his experience within the Combine Incubator Program.




Agriculture is Nebraska’s top industry, so it makes sense that startup companies will turn up with the goal to solve problems and make operations more efficient.

However, the companies starting out in the ag-tech industry in Nebraska and throughout the Midwest often have been hampered by a lack of investors willing to take a chance on them.

Two Nebraska-based organizations are looking to change that.

Earlier this month, Omaha-based Burlington Capital and Lincoln-based Invest Nebraska announced plans for a venture capital fund focused on ag-tech companies.

The Burlington Capital Ag-Venture Fund, which aims to raise $11 million by the end of the year, will have a “producer-first and industry-first approach,” the organizations said in a news release, with plans to draw its investors and advisors from the ranks of farmers, agribusinesses and agricultural trade associations.

“Though Ag-Venture is not limited by geography, we intend to back founders who are not just technologists, but who are also producers, growers and farmers,” said Ben Williamson, one of the managing directors of Burlington Capital Ag-Venture. “They have walked the fields and shaken the hands of those across the backbone of America. These founders do not just speak the language, they deeply understand the customer and their problems, and they are rolling up their sleeves to fix them.”

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