Key Takeaways
- F3 Innovate announced five recipients of its 2025 Innovation Grant Program during FIRA USA 2025.
- The program awarded a total of $200,000 to startups developing technologies in automation, water efficiency, soil health, and plant analytics.
- Grant recipients include Senseen US, ECO2MIX Inc., Gather, Milano Technical Group, and Budbreak Innovations.
- Beyond funding, the initiative connects early-stage companies with growers to pilot and scale their solutions in real-world field environments.
- Reviewing partners for the program included Farmhand Ventures, the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and Drew Ketelsen of HMC Farms.
F3 Innovate Supports Next-Generation AgTech Development
F3 Innovate has announced the winners of its 2025 Innovation Grant Program, unveiling five early-stage startups that are driving agricultural innovation in California’s Central Valley. Presented at FIRA USA 2025, the $200,000 in total grant funding aims to accelerate breakthrough solutions in key areas such as automation, water and nutrient management, soil health, and plant analytics.
More than a financial award, the F3i Innovation Grant Program provides participating startups with direct access to growers, enabling field pilots, partnerships, and opportunities to scale proven technologies. The initiative seeks to bridge the gap between research and real-world adoption, advancing sustainability and efficiency across the agricultural value chain.
The 2025 F3 Innovate Innovation Grant Recipients
- Senseen US – Using its Nutriscope™ AI platform, Senseen is developing almond-specific calibrations to measure macro and micronutrients directly from leaf scans, providing growers with real-time nutrition insights for advanced plant health analytics.
- ECO2MIX Inc. – Through its Push Water Project, the company is working with American Pistachio Growers and Fresno State to measure soil health improvements and nitrogen savings using carbonic acid, generating the first actionable dataset of its kind for agriculture.
- Gather – Developer of a semi-autonomous rover that automates crop transport between pickers and packers in vineyards, enhancing harvest speed, worker safety, and operational efficiency.
- Milano Technical Group – Creator of an autonomy software stack offering navigation, fleet management, and telemetry as a plug-and-play API for ag robotics, reducing deployment time from months to weeks.
- Budbreak Innovations – Builder of vineyard robots that detect early symptoms of vine diseases such as red blotch and leafroll, automatically flagging affected vines and syncing data to a web dashboard for grower insights.
Building Bridges Between Growers and Innovators
According to program organizers, F3 Innovate’s approach goes beyond investment to foster direct collaboration between startups, farmers, and research institutions. By facilitating pilot projects and connecting entrepreneurs with real-world agricultural environments, the program helps validate and scale technologies that address pressing challenges in crop production, labor efficiency, and environmental sustainability.
The selection process was supported by Farmhand Ventures, the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and Drew Ketelsen of HMC Farms.
