The Newberry F-300 AgFoodTech Startup Accelerator announced four founding startups in the program’s spring 2026 cohort on Tuesday.  

According to a press release, the cohort of entrepreneurs and academics includes Ignition Packaging, RootMatrix Bio, Apiflair Technologies and AgriBugs.  

Each startup is working to develop technologies geared towards solving problems and inefficiencies in today’s agricultural sector, including biodegradable packaging made from agricultural waste, biodegradable polymers reducing runoff and water use, and bio-inspired aerial vehicles and autonomous drone parts that can help detect crop diseases. 

“The F-300 Startup Accelerator Spring ‘26 cohort has driven entrepreneurs committed 
to strengthening food supply chain safety, security and sustainability with their innovative startups,” said Kamal Latham, F-300’s managing director, in the release. “These founders are contributing to the agriculture and food technology innovation ecosystem growing in the rural city of Newberry in North Central Florida.” 

Launched in 2025, the F-300 Accelerator is a 12-week business growth program for early-stage startup founders seeking to grow their businesses.  

The program features networking sessions and mentorship connections in Newberry, as well as online educational workshops. Although the accelerator works closely with the University of Florida (UF), it also features startups from around the world.  

The accelerator aims to further Newberry’s mission of positioning Florida as the “Silicon Valley of agriculture” as the global demand for food increases. It dovetails with the city’s F-300 AgFoodTech Innovation Park, which recently received a $132 million investment from Harvest Singularity for hydroponic greenhouses set to be constructed this year. 

The accelerator program’s spring cohort includes the following startups: 

• Ignition Packaging, LLC 
  Founder: Abdu Bejjaj, abdu@ignitionpkg.com 
  Ignition Packaging uses agricultural waste to make commercially viable, biodegradable packaging designed to replace styrofoam at scale. By partnering directly with farms, it creates a circular supply chain, improving farm economics 
  while addressing plastic pollution. Founder Abdu Bejjaj is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree from UF in Geomatics – Geospatial Analysis. He won first place in the 2025 UF Big Idea Gator Business Plan Competition hosted by the UF Warrington College of Business. 

• RootMatrix Bio, LLC 
  Founder: Noa Cohen, PhD, noac@rootmatrix-bio.com 
  RootMatrix Bio is developing a biodegradable, architecture-engineered scaffold platform for agriculture that co-manages water and nutrient delivery directly in the root zone. It combines materials science and predictive modeling to optimize performance while reducing runoff, water use and input waste. Founder Noa Cohen has a PhD in Materials Engineering from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. 

• Apiflair Technologies, LLC 
  Founder: Shruti Choudhary, PhD, shrutichoudhary@apiflairtech.com 
  Apiflair Technologies is building an iron dome for crops using bio-inspired aerial vehicles to automate precision pollinations and detect crop diseases. One of the sensors provides early detection of airborne traces of citrus greening disease. Founder Shruti Choudhary has a PhD in Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering from the University of Miami. 

• AgriBugs, LLC 
  Founder: Darren Raj, darren@agribugs.com 
  AgriBugs builds autonomous, solar-powered drone ports that stay in the field and launch missions without a pilot on-site. Its system delivers frequent RGB and multispectral crop insights to help growers and researchers detect stress, irrigation issues, and disease early through continuous, off-grid monitoring. Founder Darren Raj has a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology/Computer Science from Florida State University.