THE THIRD OPTION
FOR COMMERCIALIZING AGTECH
THE THIRD OPTION
FOR COMMERCIALIZING AGTECH
ABOUT CARROT VENTURES
Seeding New AgTech Ventures
Carrot is a venture studio that forms and funds new companies to commercialize high-impact agricultural and food technologies.
Verdex Capital launched Carrot Ventures to address systemic challenges faced by AgTech start-ups.
Carrot sources and vets new technologies, recruits experienced leadership, forms new companies around the tech and talent, and leads the first round of financing.
The goal is to offer AgTech IP owners a compelling option for commercializing their IP.
MARTIN VETTER
Founding Partner
Martin helps bring great technology to market. He brings his operating and financing expertise to bear on sourcing technologies, recruiting talent, negotiating investment terms, and enabling investee success.
Martin serves as a Director or advisor to several companies, including BlackSquare, Leankor, LoginRadius, SAMdesk, Susterre Technologies, Cellar Insights and Wedge Networks, and is a Partner of Accelerate Fund I, L.P.
Martin earned a BEng from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and an MBA from the University of Calgary.
“Carrot has the ability to radically transform the AgTech landscape. I’m excited to be part of unleashing innovation and bringing great technologies to market.”
MARTIN VETTER
Founding Partner
Martin helps bring great technology to market. He brings his operating and financing expertise to bear on sourcing technologies, recruiting talent, negotiating investment terms, and enabling investee success.
Martin serves as a Director or advisor to several companies, including BlackSquare, Leankor, LoginRadius, SAMdesk, Susterre Technologies, Cellar Insights and Wedge Networks, and is a Partner of Accelerate Fund I, L.P.
Martin earned a BEng from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and an MBA from the University of Calgary.
“The AgTech community is challenged to develop solutions to feeding an ever-expanding global population. Carrot helps make it possible.”
JIM HARDIN
Founding Partner
As a past company founder and entrepreneur, Jim has insight into the challenges of early-stage company formation, and the actions needed to address them. He draws on this experience to identify investment opportunities, define value propositions, and lead investment transactions, with a goal to build and finance innovative agricultural technology companies.
Jim has worked closely with a variety of companies to build value and realize commercial opportunities including Baby Gourmet, Botaneco Inc., Livestock Water Recycling and Decisive Farming.
Jim earned a BSc and a PhD from the University of Calgary.
JIM HARDIN
Founding Partner
As a past company founder and entrepreneur, Jim has insight into the challenges of early-stage company formation, and the actions needed to address them. He draws on this experience to identify investment opportunities, define value propositions, and lead investment transactions, with a goal to build and finance innovative agricultural technology companies.
Jim has worked closely with a variety of companies to build value and realize commercial opportunities including Baby Gourmet, Botaneco Inc., Livestock Water Recycling and Decisive Farming.
Jim earned a BSc and a PhD from the University of Calgary.
DANNY WAY
Venture Partner
Danny is an innovator, founder, entrepreneur, and mentor with 18 years of involvement within the Alberta and Canadian innovation, angel investor and venture capital communities.
He has experience serving in CEO, CFO, COO, and CTO roles, and created or supported over 20 ventures resulting in more than $30M of capital raised and 150 people employed.
He has a BSc in Software Engineering from the University of Calgary.
“I’m motivated to leverage my start-up, Angel, VC and early-stage commercialization experience to bring promising new AgTech to market.”
DANNY WAY
Venture Partner
Danny is an innovator, founder, entrepreneur, and mentor with 18 years of involvement within the Alberta and Canadian innovation, angel investor and venture capital communities.
He has experience serving in CEO, CFO, COO, and CTO roles, and created or supported over 20 ventures resulting in more than $30M of capital raised and 150 people employed.
He has a BSc in Software Engineering from the University of Calgary.
“I’m passionate about helping innovative solutions come to market that solve meaningful sustainability and production challenges in agriculture.”
LOUIS BROWN
Principal
Louis has a passion for agricultural innovation and a talent for recognizing opportunities. With his background in financial analysis and private equity, he brings practical insights and experience to the Carrot team.
Louis’ role is to identify promising new technologies, evaluate their potential and value propositions, conduct partnership and acquisition diligence and support the onboarding and financing process.
He earned a BA from the University of Sydney and a Diploma of Financial Markets from the Financial Services Institute of Australia.
LOUIS BROWN
Principal
Louis has a passion for agricultural innovation and a talent for recognizing opportunities. With his background in financial analysis and private equity, he brings practical insights and experience to the Carrot team.
Louis’ role is to identify promising new technologies, evaluate their potential and value propositions, conduct partnership and acquisition diligence and support the onboarding and financing process.
He earned a BA from the University of Sydney and a Diploma of Financial Markets from the Financial Services Institute of Australia.
KELLY KRAHULIC
Associate
Kelly thrives at the intersection of science and entrepreneurship. Her passion is the development and commercialization of technologies that support sustainable solutions for people, the environment, and the economy.
In prior roles, she led the development of multiple market-focused innovations through technical and product development, and was directly involved in raising debt and equity capital through multiple rounds of financing.
Kelly earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of Calgary.
“I have an insatiable curiosity and a powerful drive to create sustainable solutions for people, the environment, and the economy through the commercialization of innovative technologies.”
KELLY KRAHULIC
Associate
Kelly thrives at the intersection of science and entrepreneurship. Her passion is the development and commercialization of technologies that support sustainable solutions for people, the environment, and the economy.
In prior roles, she led the development of multiple market-focused innovations through technical and product development, and was directly involved in raising debt and equity capital through multiple rounds of financing.
Kelly earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of Calgary.
Verdex Capital (formerly AVAC Group) is a purpose-driven, evergreen venture capital firm that invests in the Canadian food and agricultural sectors.
Our mission is to advance Canadian agriculture by investing in venture and community development. We look to invest in ways that achieve strong financial returns with measurable environmental and social impact.