Rabat – Morocco’s Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and the country’s mining giant OCP Group have backed an US-based investment fund looking to put money into technology which can help farmers produce more crops.
California-based Bidra (Arabic for seed) Innovation ventures launched a $50 million (MAD 488 million) fund. Both UM6P and OCP support the fund that will enable agritech startups companies to boost their technology that can be used by farmers to help to ensure crop production and give them a steady income.
The fund aims to identify, nurture, and empower innovative solutions to boost the agricultural ecosystems worldwide, UM6P said in a press release in March 2021.
The fund is expected to begin operating in April, 2022, over a period of five years where investments would be mainly made in businesses specializing in crop production, digital agriculture services, and agri-market solutions.
Entrepreneurs developing products for the agriculture sector could benefit from the UM6P and the OCP Group’s experience in the field, which could help them develop their businesses.
In the press release, UM6P’s president Hicham El Habti spoke on the university’s pivotal role in strengthening research and innovation to tackle emerging challenges related to agriculture.
“[UM6P] brings together a full innovation ecosystem of the best researchers, first-class international academic and innovation partnerships,” UM6P’s president Hicham El Habti said.
“We see Bidra’s partnerships with startups and the agricultural innovation ecosystem at large as key catalysts to achieving our objective to contribute to the transformation of agriculture towards greater sustainability,”El Habti added.
Meanwhile, Amar Singh, President of Bidra Innovation Ventures, highlighted that having UP6P and OCP as sole investors will provide Bidra with a long term capital alongside access to several useful resources in the agritech field.
“I am thrilled to join Bidra at the most critical time in our industry. I’m thankful for UM6P’s initiative and their conviction in backing founders and technologies at the bleeding-edge in agriculture,” Singh concluded.
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