Ag Startup Engine
VC Fund
Ames, United States
Ag Startup Engine is a VC fund in Ames focused on Farming and Biotechnology. The Ag Startup Engine effort was launched two years ago to help address two fundamental gaps that prevent agricultural startups and entrepreneurs from being more successful in Iowa: early seed stage investment and organized mentorship from successful Iowan and Midwestern entrepreneurs.
- Total investments:
- 30
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 53%
- Fund size:
- $1.7M
- Last fund:
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Ag Startup Engine invests in
Stages Ag Startup Engine invests in
Countries Ag Startup Engine invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Round size
- Seed
- $25k–$5M
- Pre-Seed
- $50k–$200k
- Series A
- $3M–$11M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Farming 10 (33%)
- Biotechnology 8 (27%)
- AgTech 7 (23%)
- Agriculture 5 (17%)
- Livestock 3 (10%)
Stage
- Seed 19 (63%)
- Pre-Seed 4 (13%)
- Series A 4 (13%)
Team
| Name | Title | Investments | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Kevin Kimle
Co-Founder
|
Co-Founder | Total investments: 4 | Find email |
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quercus aims to create effective, environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical pesticides by designing proteins from scratch, which can be regulated as biopesticides. This approach promises faster development and deployment compared to traditional methods, with potential for significant advancements in crop protection over the next few years. | $5M / Seed / Jul 29, 2026 | ||
| ZymeCO is a bio-manufacturing company that develops enzyme-based biological products designed for sustainable agriculture and turf management. The company utilizes a bio-process that transforms organic matter to build soil health, accelerate residue decomposition, and boost plant growth. | $4M / Series A / Jul 01, 2026 | ||
| Fermeate provides photomolecular fermentation technology to increase sustainability and efficiency in the biomanufacturing industry. | $2.5M / Seed / Apr 27, 2026 | ||
| Genvax Technologies is a startup animal vaccine company. | $6.5M / Seed / Aug 09, 2022 | ||
| Mazen Animal Health is a new company focused on developing, delivering and commercializing novel biological vaccines and therapeutics that disrupt the status quo and address complex or unsolved challenges in animal health and protein production. Their first disruptive solution is a reinvention of vaccines with a novel technology platform that willshift the paradigm in disease prevention. | $11.3M / Series A / May 05, 2022 | ||
GW Nutrition
|
GW Nutrition developing a technology to improve food ingredients where the sensory properties limit market opportunity. | $50K / Seed / Mar 09, 2022 | |
| Phinite is a breakthrough in manure handling. Sludge Management is a problem that threatens Hog Farming in North Carolina. Hog farmers are finding they need to remove sludge from their lagoons, but that land is hard to spread the material is hard to come by. In the last 30 years, poultry litter has been heavily applied to fields around hog farms,and there isn’t enough land left for the lagoon sludge. | $50K / Seed / Mar 03, 2022 | ||
| N-Sense develops a soil nitrate sensor system that can be attached to farm implements and used to determine in-real-time soil nitrate concentrations with sufficient accuracy to facilitate precision application of nitrogen fertilizers.N-Sense enables farmers to identify, measure, and deferentially manage soils within fields in a manner thatimproves farm profitability and decreases environmental impact associated with the over-application of nitrogen fertilizer. | $50K / Seed / Nov 17, 2021 | ||
| Salin 247 is developing small-scale, light-weight, electric-powered, autonomous farm equipment used for growing crops. | $50K / Pre-Seed / Oct 18, 2021 | ||
| Continuum Ag uses soil testing technologies to tailor recommendations for building soil health and regenerative agricultural practices. The company will use the money to continue software development to enhance usability and usefulness, and will expand its soil database through farm consultants in Continuum’s Top Soil network, a nationwideassociation of soil health focused agronomists. | $475K / Seed / Oct 15, 2021 | ||
| See all 30 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does Ag Startup Engine invest in?
Ag Startup Engine invests primarily in Farming, Biotechnology and AgTech startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 30 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is Ag Startup Engine's check size?
Ag Startup Engine typically joins rounds of $25k–$5M at Seed, $50k–$200k at Pre-Seed and $3M–$11M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Ag Startup Engine participates in.
How do I contact Ag Startup Engine?
Public channels for Ag Startup Engine include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
Who are the partners at Ag Startup Engine?
The team at Ag Startup Engine includes Kevin Kimle (Co-Founder). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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