Finalists for Mekong Sub-regions agricultural startup contest announced

MATCh aims to identify agricultural technologies and new business models with the potential to reshape agriculture towards sustainable and inclusive growth in the GMS.

Twenty three startups have been selected to join the Mekong Agritech Accelerator (MATCh) 2018, with the aim of choosing the best agritech ecosystem for the region.

The group includes 13 startups from Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, and Vietnam, as well ten international firms proposing agritech solutions for these markets. The top agritech startups plan to showcase their solutions at the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Leaders’ Summit in Hanoi later this month.

MATCh is the first facilitator for agritech startups in Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, and Vietnam. It is funded by the Australian Government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and is co-organised by the Mekong Business Initiative (MBI), Future Food Asia, and the GMS Core Agriculture Support Program (CASP).

It aims to identify agricultural technologies and new business models with the potential to reshape agriculture towards sustainable and inclusive growth in the GMS. Among the 127 startups that applied, a panel of agriculture and food industry experts, as well as investors, evaluated the applications and selected the finalists.

Finalists will grow their businesses and technology with mentors, industry experts, and investors. They will showcase their solutions and technologies at the 2018 GMS Leaders’ Summit in Hanoi on March 30-31. Additionally, they will be a part of the Future Food Asia Award event on May 23 in Singapore.

Dominic Mellor from the ADB, who heads up the MBI, said that the MBI and its partners will work with the selected innovators and entrepreneurs on transforming the agricultural industry in the Mekong Region into a leading supplier of safe and nutritious food for all.

MATCh was launched on the sidelines of the Second GMS Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting in September 2017, in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The meeting endorsed the GMS strategy for promoting safe and environment-friendly agriculture value chains and the action plan for 2018-2022.