Sowing seeds.

• Author: Barnes, Clifton
• Position: NC TREND: Triangle Region

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Investments in agriculture technology startups worldwide grew from $860 million in 2013 to $4.6 billion in 2015 for an obvious reason. Crop production needs to double over the next 35 years as global population soars to nearly 10 billion by 2050, or about 75 million additional people annually. Now, a new North Carolina venture is on the front line of the effort to feed the world. AgTech Accelerator, established in May and headquartered in Research Triangle Park, is focused on developing life-sciences companies that can help spur advances in crop and livestock production.

While an arm of Pasadena, Calif.-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities is the lead investor in the $11.5 million initial funding, the new venture also has backing from ag industry giants Bayer and Syngenta Ventures, which have sites in North Carolina. Alexandria is developing a 56-acre campus for life-sciences companies at RTP as part of a broader plan to make the suburban park more attractive to tech workers. The accelerator will move into the first phase of the Alexandria Center for Science Technology and Agriculture, which is now under construction.

Two of the six other backers are Halteras Venture Partners and Pappas Capital, run by some of North Carolina's best-known tech investors. The eight academic institutional partners include Duke...