Northern Irish food fraud specialist in US deal

Northern Irish food supply chain specialist arc-net has been chosen to join Terra, a unique startup accelerator in California's Silicon Valley that aims to accelerate the development of food and agricultural technologies.

The Belfast-based developer of blockchain technology helps food businesses protect their supply chains and offer their buyers full traceability against food crime and fraud.

Arc-net was established by Kieran Kelly in 2014 and has already attracted some of the world's largest food producers as clients.

Mr Kelly had a track record in digital leadership before setting up the business - he was previously a director in a global defence company and specialised in information security and cryptography, but he also hails from a family with a meat business in the North.

Mr Kelly, who is arc-net's chief executive, says the company is delighted to have won backing for the US accelerator. The company works closely with the internationally acclaimed Institute for Global Food Security at Queen's University Belfast.

"There are many unique attributes that set Terra apart from other accelerators, one being that the pilot program will allow us to really observe how the participating startups can scale, and how the partnership with our collaborators can help them in that process," explained Manuel Gonzalez, head of Startup Innovation at Rabobank. "Terra is about both the future and the here and now - what the industry needs, what consumers want, what the earth requires - and how startups can respond to the needs of society."

The accelerator's founding companies, Rabobank and RocketSpace, along with their corporate partners, selected arc-net from a competitive applicant pool of hundreds of companies from around the world.

In addition to the Northern Ireland startup's potential for new product development, arc-net was chosen to join the Terra programme because its blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt the entire food and agriculture industry.

"This group of startups has the potential to define the future of food and agriculture and it's our goal to provide the velocity - speed and direction - to help them scale their solutions," said Ron Yerkes, vice-president of Industry Tech Accelerators at RocketSpace. "It's going to be an exciting adventure working directly with some of the world's most progressive corporations."

A total of 14 startups from around the world have been chosen to join Terra's inaugural cohort, with arc-net the only company from the UK or Ireland chosen for the accelerator programme. The 14 companies will take part in an eight-week tailored curriculum led by industry experts in San Francisco, followed by an eight-week product validation period.