AgUnity, a Brisbane-based tech start-up thathelps small farmers harness the power of blockchain, is gaining international recognition for its ground-breaking technology.

Founded by Agripreneur of the year David Davies, AgUnity helps farmers in developing countries to retain a greater share of their crop value by using a new crypto-ledger mobile app.

The transparent digital process levels the playing field for small farmers, replacing existing verbal and paper agreements.

The app creates a circle of trust for small farm co-operatives to track the 50 percent of crop value that is estimated by the UN to disappear between harvest and point of sale.

AgUnity has already been recognised by major non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) and has won a range of AgTech awards for its innovation.

Pilot programs have been launched in Africa, Latin America, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. 

AgUnity recently won Investible’s national pitch competition which helps Australian startups gain visibility in the Southeast Asian and Chinese markets.

They will now represent Australia at the Overseas Talent Entrepreneurial Conference (OTEC) pitch competition in Beijing this week along with InSpace XR, a startup that has developed new virtual reality technology for architects.

Opportunities in China

The Aussies will pitch for 1,000,000RMB (about A$198,000) against Silicon Dragon winners and 18 leading startups from around the world.

The opportunity to pitch at OTEC 2018 spotlights AgUnity as one of the world’s leading early stage start-ups, paving the way for other Aussie start-ups in the China region.

With entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists (VCs) from over 28 countries attending the pitch, the event is one of the World’s largest VC events.

The pitch winner will not only take home 1,000,000 RMB, but will also have the opportunity to access a 5 million RMB (A$990,000) entrepreneurship loan.

Supporting an Aussie presence at OTEC has been a particularly important initiative for Investible, who will be behind AgUnity every step of the way.

Investible,an early-stage investment group that provides high potential startups with financial, human and intellectual capital to grow their business, expanded its operations to Asia late last year.

In addition to the OTEC trip, Investible will be supporting AgUnity in Beijing with a week-long start-up tour of China. This includes networking opportunities with Beijing Investible partners, and free workspace for three months.