Blog Lessons on the Journey from Lab to Market: Venturing-Out with Manhat and Yieldsapp

On 14 June, the Accelerate for Impact Platform invited scientists, innovators, and stakeholders from CGIAR and beyond to take part in the Venture-Out Event: A4IP Startup Showcase. This interactive webinar, now available to watch below, promoted insights on the journey from lab to market for two innovative agri-food technologies who took part in last year’s AgriTech4Morocco Innovation Challenge. 

The two startups, Manhat, a natural water distillation technology, and Yieldsapp, an AI-based agronomic management platform, were joined by CGIAR scientists Maha al-Zu'bi (Agriculture Water Solutions Researcher at IWMI) and Ajit Govind (Senior Climatologist and Systems Modeler at ICARDA) to explore how science can accelerate the impact of these technologies for sustainable agriculture and climate action. 

The presentations of Manhat and Yieldsapp, followed by a Q&A with CGIAR experts, generated common lessons from their experience scaling innovations from lab to market: 

1. Scientific expertise, like that of CGIAR, can accelerate the development of these technologies 

2. Modularity can be the pathway to scalability 

3. Startups must strategize to ensure they can reach every farmer 

1. Scientific expertise, like that of CGIAR, can accelerate the development of these technologies  

Collaborations with sources of scientific and local expertise, like CGIAR, are a valuable asset for startups to strengthen the technical and practical validity of their solutions.

“As part of our journey, and even main strategy, I would say we collaborate mostly with research and research institutes,” said Guy Sela, CEO of Yieldsapp, during the event. “This is a very important pillar of the technology, and we're using the science and the data along with farm data and remote sensing to generate dynamic protocols for crop management.”   

2. Modularity can be the pathway to scalability  

When expanding the breadth and depth of the technology’s adoption, a modular design of the solution can prove beneficial to mitigate costs and allow adopters to engage with the solution in a way most suited to their unique needs.

“The good thing about the technology is we would like to keep it as lower capital: that's why we are already thinking of creating this product in a modular fashion,” said Dr. Saeed Alhassan, Founder of Manhat, during the event. “So, the scalability will be a function of how many pieces you can add to increase the water production and the crops production.”   

3. Startups must strategize to ensure they can reach every farmer 

 For both startups, as encouraged by questions from the audience and CGIAR experts, it will be imperative to consider the unique conditions of local contexts and smallholder farmers and think dynamically to adapt solutions to the unique challenges that they face.

"The Venture Out event was a testament to the power of collaboration and entrepreneurship, where startups with a shared vision for impact came together to inspire and create positive change,” coFounder of Manhat Vishnu Pillai said. 

Watch the event and build on these ideas by sharing with a fellow innovator. Stay tuned for more of the Accelerate for Impact Platform’s Venture-Out Events, where guests from the innovation ecosystem including leading startups, ventures, and tech transfer experts showcase their success stories of bridging research ideas from lab to market. Venture-Out aims to encourage learning and connection amongst innovators, highlight synergies and pathways for value creation with CGIAR research, and further inspire the entrepreneurial mindset and market-oriented approach among CGIAR’s scientists. 

The Accelerate for Impact Platform (A4IP) is the Alliance/CGIAR’s venture-space to co-design, accelerate and fund market-driven and multidisciplinary innovation at the nexus of agriculture, environment, and health:

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