Japanese billionaire Taizo Son unveils tech accelerator in India

The Japanese incubator Mistletoe, founded by the billionaire serial investor Taizo Son, unveiled a new agri-food technology accelerator in India named "Gastrotope" here on Thursday.

The accelerator, which aims to invest in start-ups related to food and agriculture technologies, was launched along with GSF Accelerator, an Indian tech accelerator and Infobridge, an Indo-Japan business consultancy.

Speaking at the launch, Son said: "I truly believe India will be the centre of agri-food technology innovation. India has rich talent pool of engineers, a vast land and population, and in addition, a long and rich food culture".

"Japan is also a country with deep agricultural technologies and food culture as well," Son, the younger brother of SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son, said.

"I have always believed that innovation comes from the connecting of diverse dots, this time, with the bridge between India and Japan, new and unique solutions to the fundamental questions of food and agriculture will arise," he added.

"We hope we will become a catalyst for this new movement of "farm to fork" permaculture," the serial entrepreneur and investor said.

The accelerator would invest in start-ups that work with various aspects of food and agriculture technologies, starting from farmers, to food transportation, processing, delivery and consumption.

--IANS

bha/ahm/dg