The role of venture‐financed startups in innovation for US agriculture

To evaluate the role played by startup companies in the innovation ecosystem of US agriculture, we compile a unique dataset of 6024 new entrants founded 1987–2019 that details their financing lifecycles, annual economic performance, and patenting activities. One‐third of the firms in the sample have observable signs of contributing to innovation, including patenting and external financing such as grants and venture capital, thus characterizing them as startups. Such startups and their financing have grown substantially over the period studied. We use discrete‐time survival analysis to test factors related to firms receiving venture financing as well as to firms achieving successful financial exits. We find those firms that file for patents have higher likelihood of receiving financing than those that do not. Patent filings also increase the relative probability of a successful financial exit, which takes place primarily through mergers and acquisitions. In about a third of such exits, startups are acquired by corporate incumbents in agriculture well positioned to scale up and commercialize those startups' innovations for US agriculture. Importantly, a substantial portion of firms in the sample are still too young to have attained venture financing let alone a financial exit.