From EIC ePitching to strategic funding: AgroSustain and BayWa

AgroSustain, a Swiss AgTech startup that develops natural crop protection solutions, was an EIC beneficiary and participant in the EIC’s ePitching on AgriTech initiative. The European Innovation Council’s (EIC) Investors Programme says that exposure through that initiative helped AgroSustain consolidate interest from BayWa, a large international agribusiness and energy group, and ultimately contributed to the startup closing a Series A round that included BayWa as a strategic investor.

Company background and technology

Founded in 2018, AgroSustain positions itself as a one-stop-shop for biological plant protection. The company develops farm to fork products such as biological fungicides and coatings intended to improve the quality and shelf life of fruits and vegetables while leaving no chemical residues. The research team is described as largely PhD-level with expertise spanning chemistry, plant biochemistry and molecular and evolutionary biology. AgroSustain also works with Swiss research institutions including the University of Lausanne and Agroscope, the national agricultural research centre.

How the EIC Investor Programme contributed

The EIC’s Business Acceleration Services, and specifically its Investor Programme, run regular online ePitching events and investor days intended to connect EIC beneficiaries with business angels, venture capital and corporate venture capital. In AgroSustain’s case the company says the ePitching event in spring 2021 helped to crystallise visibility with potential backers. EIC-appointed business coaches also worked with the team to refine their pitch and investor story.

The timeline in public EIC materials notes ePitching activity in spring 2021 while BayWa representatives recall meeting AgroSustain earlier in 2020 and having prior interactions. That sequence suggests the relationship developed over multiple touchpoints with the ePitching event acting as one visible milestone rather than the only cause of the investment.

Preparation and the role of coaching

EIC beneficiaries are assigned business coaches to improve their investor readiness. AgroSustain’s coach, Kaija Pöysti, described the coaching session as focused on sharpening the pitch to emphasise customer and investor benefits rather than technical detail. Coaches aim to help teams tell a concise business story that makes strengths and market fit obvious, leaving technical data for follow-up meetings and due diligence.

Investor perspective: why BayWa took part

BayWa described AgroSustain as aligning with its fresh produce and food-business interests. Marion Meyer, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at BayWa, said that prior interactions and testing in fresh produce were important to identify where AgroSustain’s products could reduce food-risk across the value chain. Meyer emphasised traditional investor concerns such as intellectual property, team quality and financials as drivers of the decision to participate in the funding round.

Impact for AgroSustain and the limits of the narrative

AgroSustain said the Series A money helped increase commercial traction for its first product and to set up production facilities. The company also credited strategic investors with adding value beyond capital. Olga, AgroSustain’s representative, highlighted two EIC programme benefits: credibility and access to an investor network which can accelerate market access and client introductions.

At the same time this case illustrates a common dynamic in EU innovation support. EIC matchmaking and visibility are useful enablers but rarely sufficient by themselves. Successful investment outcomes typically depend on prior relationships, corroborating technical results from joint pilots, clear IP position, regulatory clarity and demonstrable commercial traction. The EIC’s role is to lower barriers to these conversations, not to replace the detailed investor due diligence that follows.

Why this matters for the EU innovation ecosystem

The AgroSustain example is consistent with the EIC’s broader strategy to connect deep tech and sustainability-focused SMEs with private and corporate capital. The EIC Business Acceleration Services run regular ePitching events and investor days, and offer coaching, matchmaking and curated investor exposure. These services are intended to increase the probability that grant beneficiaries can transition from research to commercial scale and attract follow-on funding.

From an ecosystem perspective, the presence of corporate strategic investors in rounds that also include public funding can accelerate adoption of novel technologies in conservative sectors such as agriculture. That adoption still depends on pilots, regulatory compliance and scaling the manufacturing process. Policymakers and programme managers should continue to measure not only deal counts but also post-investment outcomes such as successful pilots, regulatory milestones achieved and revenue growth.

Funding snapshot

Public records list two EIC grants to AgroSustain: a Phase 1 grant of €50,000 in 2018 and a Phase 2B grant of €2,492,875 in 2021. The Series A round that included BayWa closed subsequently but the EIC announcement does not disclose the Series A amount. Public grants and investor capital serve different purposes: grants finance research and product development while private and corporate capital support scaling, production and commercialisation.

Practical lessons for startups and programme designers

For startups: Prepare for investors by focusing pitches on customer benefits, go-to-market plans and the gap the technology fills in value chains. Use coaching to sharpen investor narratives and treat public programme exposure as a complement to ongoing investor outreach. For programme designers: Track long term outcomes such as follow-on investment, pilot completion and market uptake. Ensure matchmaking services are accompanied by support for regulatory strategy and scale up planning.

Where to follow up

The EIC continues to run ePitching events, investor days and a business acceleration services catalogue. Interested companies can find schedules and calls on the EIC events page and the Funding and Tenders Portal. For details on BayWa and its business units see BayWa corporate information. For further reading on EIC instruments and grants consult the EIC Accelerator and EIC Fund pages.

This account is based on information published by the European Innovation Council on 31 May 2022, statements attributed to AgroSustain, EIC coaches and BayWa, and publicly available corporate and programme documents. Where the public record is silent, figures such as private round amounts are reported as undisclosed rather than estimated.