Chilli is of great importance for humankind, specially for us, Mexicans, since it is a cultural and historical symbol. Agrocapsi seeks to conserve this food source and evolve its plantation process into a more easier, safer way by creating a product that prevents wilt on chilli plants.
With help of numerous stakeholders and innovation programs we could design our Business Plan based on TRL and Stella Pre-incubation Program, to achieve the optimal production of Agrocapsi. This way our product could be scalable and factible in the regional, national and international market, proving the advantages over its competition at a rentable price.
We live in a world where the population is growing and resources are scarce. Millions of people are struggling to have food on the table and have been driven closer to experiencing food insecurity. In 2021, 29.3% of the world population, around 2.3 billion people, were moderately or severely food insecure (WHO, 2022). The causes for it vary from country to country, but it is commonly provoked by poverty, economic shocks, and environmental factors (Plan Internacional, 2022).
They all have reduced people’s access to food. Because, even if it is available, it is too expensive for some people to purchase it. And, climate change has altered weather patterns, risen natural disasters, and increased the presence of pests, which wreck and rotten crops. Annually, 40% of global crop production is lost to plant diseases, which costs the global economy over $220 billion USD (FAO, 2021). This generates an impact on agriculture production and means a direct economic loss to farmers, which affects the entire value chain of harvests.
In Mexico, agriculture is a pillar of our economy. It is a key contributor to the national GDP, and provides jobs to 13% of the population, about 3.3 million farmers (Corona, 2016). Which helps Mexican economic, social, and environmental development. Among the main crops that we produce are corn, wheat, tomato, onion, bean, pumpkin, and chilli (INEGI, 2019). This last one is an essential plant for Mexican cuisine and traditions. There are 64 varieties of chilli (SEMARNAT, 2018), which accounts for the diversity and demand that Mexico has. A menace to this fruit does not only affects culturally but economically too. Chilli producers have reported losses of up a 100% on their crops due to wilt, a disease caused by the oomycete P. capsici (Nabor-Romero et al., 2020). This pest not only reduces its production but also deteriorates the quality of crops. Which has great economic repercussions on those whose main income relies on chilli.
Agrocapsi aims to end this great problematic through the use of synthetic biology. We seek to protect the agriculture of Mexico and the world by developing a sustainable biofungicide. Making its production and manufacture ethical, safe, and ecological. Converting our proof of concept into a profitable business. Agrocapsi is meant to be sold worldwide to help from every food producer to the final user by providing high-quality meals.
For the idealization, development, and future launching of our product. We followed the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) method. It consists of nine levels based on the progress of the project (CONACYT, 2022). Since Entrepreneurship and Human Practices work hand in hand, we have implemented the design thinking process on the TRL, which mainly focuses on the user and is action-oriented. On this timeline, we have described the steps that Agrocapsi must follow, and the initial, mid-term and final milestones to develop our project.
We have achieved a TRL1 and believe that our product could be commercialized in 8 years. Click on every icon to know what we have done so far and what we expect to do in the future on every single level of the TRL!
Basic principles
Validation
Proof of concept
Lab tests
Field Tests
Production tests
Final Prototype
Certifications
Commercialization
In Mexico, chilli is historic, sacred, and nutritional food, its value goes beyond cultural representation. Since it symbolizes a great part of the economy of thousands of Mexican families. However, agro-production is in danger due to plant diseases. Which causes the death of the fruit not only in Mexico, but worldwide. Agrocapsi's main objective is to ensure food security and enviromental and user safety. It is a biofungicide with two antimicrobial peptides (PcOSM and DrsB1) and siRNA that inhibit the growth of P. capsici wilt, applied through the irrigation system. For more information on the application and disposal method, go to our Proposed Implementation!
Figure 1. Agrocapsi's prototype.
Agrocapsi is one of the first products in the market that uses synthetic biology to obtain the raw materials. This inventive pesticide utilizes recombinant DNA technology by combining AMPs and interfyring ARN technology, which attacks the oomycete in a preventive manner in the different phases of the oomycete’s life cycle and its mechanism of action (Fan et al., 2018; Geetha, et al., 2021; Varasteh et al., 2019). In addition to implement nanoencapsulation as a delivery system that would provide diverse benefits during every stage of application through the irrigation system (Nuruzzaman, M. et al., 2016):
Pre-Application
Application
Post-Application
Throughout the development of the idea of Agrocapsi to comply with the initial requirements for the further production of our Minimum Viable Product (MVP). We first identified certain technical, legal, and economic key elements. Such as our theoretical framework, a legal course of action, and a business plan. Always having in mind our stakeholders' words and necessities. All together prove that Agrocapsi is a suitable and realistic solution for the current market. Click on each icon to see it!
There is bibliographic evidence that demonstrates the inhibitory capacity of the active ingredients of Agrocapsi. Likewise, an inhibition analysis will be carried out as proof of concept, necessary to ensure the functionality of the project. Which makes the product more attractive to our stakeholders and potential investors, since it will be scientifically validated!
Our product goal is to enter the market and become an agro-supply option for our users. The overall expenses that make up our business can be summarized into indirect and direct costs. The former involves human capital and industrial plant basic services. And, the latter consists of the manufacturing process for the production of Agrocapsi: fermentation, extraction, purification, and nanoencapsulation. This allowed us to obtain its real cost and thanks to the market analysis we were able to determine a gross profit percentage of 47%. Read more about this in the Business Plan section 6.
Total Price:
$300 USD per Litre
For Agrocapsi to reach our potential clients. We designed a landing page, where they can visualize our product, contact us, and ask for more information. It is expected to improve it and create a formal website, where you can buy online our product, and look at reviews.
Figure 2. Landing Page.
Considering our final price, and the market demand, we defined our market fit based on the chilli hectares cultivated of the major producers in the world, Mexico and Chihuahua. We were able to determine our international, national, and regional markets. We consider for Total Available Market (TAM) to be our main market. It is segmented into Serviciable Available Market (SAM) and subdivided into Serviciable Optainable Market (SOM). At first, we plan to enter into SOM. From where we expect to expand to SAM and our final goal would be to reach TAM.
Figure 3. Agrocapi's market fit.
Inside this Market, there are many more pesticides that solve this problem. But, based on what our stakeholders consider to be a good solution for their problem, and the benchmarking with our main competitors, both agrochemicals and biological control. We have identified unmet needs by other pesticides in the current market. And, Agrocapsi has demonstrated to be the most suitable solution for their necessities.
Figure 4. Agrocapsi's competition analysis.
We have analyzed the experience and interaction that chilli producers,our principal customers, have when acquiring Agrocapsi, a chemical and biological product. In order to identify their benefits, disadvantages, and areas of improvement.
Francisco, a chilli producer that uses Agrocapsi, a certified biofungicide with an easy application, to protect his crops against wilt. He has seen higher efficiency and no health-related issues with his employees. He has reduced crop losses, increased revenue, and he’s certain that he’ll be able to plant chilli for the next seasons because the soil’s state is in good condition.
Jose, a chilli producer that uses agrochemicals to protect his crops against wilt. He has seen great efficiency, but sometimes notices that their efficacy has decreased and his employees have some health issues. He has reduced some losses in crop production, and increased revenue, nonetheless, he is not sure if he’ll be able to plant chilli next season, because the soil might not be nutritious.
Juan, a chilli producer that uses a not certified botanical extract and microorganism mixture to protect his crops against wilt. He sees the product’s effectives after a while and his employees don’t have health-related issues. He has reduced losses in crop production and maintained his revenue, and he’ll be able to plant chilli for the next seasons.
Value Proposition:
Agrocapsi helps farmers who want to protect their crops from chilli wilt by reducing production losses. With the intention of having high quality products, and preserve food security worldwide. Unlike biological products with a high response time. And chemical products that harm the user and the environment’s health.
Agrocapsi values every single person that has been part of it. In order to fully develop Agrocapsi. We have to take into consideration every stakeholder from an international, national, and local level. It helps us understand the final users of our product, their direct distribution contacts, and our competitors, as well as the regulatory bodies that control the selling and production of agro-supplies.
Figure 5. Mapping actors of the main agro-input marketing companies, the most outstanding agro-input manufacturers and pesticide regulatory bodies in potential markets.
People who rely on chilli production, exportation, and commercialization as a life job can benefit from Agrocapsi. Since it protects their health, hard work, and income. They contributed in various manners to shaping our product with their feedback. We had numerous interviews with our stakeholders. Those allowed us to identify our potential customers, which were later verified with the market analysis results. We narrowed the type of clients thanks to the Stella Pre-incubation program. And the market segmentation of each client was determined by empathy maps. Click on the button to visualize them!
Payer
Ages: 40-65
Personality: Analytical and reserved
Pains: Not meeting the quality standars of the product.
Gains: Keep a good reputation and increase profits.
Decision maker
Ages: 35-55
Personality: Friendly and communicative
Pains: The recommended products are not effective and lose customers and credibility.
Gains: Provide an efficient and quality service.
Recommender
Ages: 40-65
Personality: Sociable, loyal and rational
Pains: The recommended products are not effective and lose customers and credibility.
Gains: Provide an efficient and quality service.
Influencer
Ages: 40-65
Personality: Economist and experienced
Pains: Market competition.
Gains: Reduce costs and increase profit.
User
Ages: 25-35
Personality: Humble, hard-worker and early-riser
Pain: Health problems caused by agrochemicals.
Gain: Keep their job to support their family.
To get to know how they all interact with each other and the product, visit our Proposed Implementation. These five archetypes were determined from real people involved with the problem.
Agrocapsi aspires to be a Mexican company with international impact committed to preserve agriculture worldwide. It focuses on providing the agroindustry with solutions for the different diseases that affect the most economically in relevant crops worldwide. Our company will be a full-scale production of a biofungicide based on the stakeholder’s feedback and knowledge of the current products on the market and their needs.
In order to develop a science-based enterprise. It is necessary to establish a business model to specify indispensable resources, actors, channels, expenses, and revenue. This allows us to define our priorities and achieve optimal company maturity. In addition to enhancing a good relationship with our future customers, and being part of the iGEM network and the biotech community of our University for intellectual support. All of these factors ensure the success of Agrocapsi. Since it has a real added value, people's support and meets existing agricultural needs.
| Business Model Canva | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Key Partners
Key Resources
|
Key Activities
|
Value Proposition
|
Customer Relationships
Channels
|
Customer
|
||
|
Cost Structure
|
Reenue Streams
|
Our Business Model Plan is an essential tool during the development of our company. Since it analyzes and visualizes the company taking into account their impact in the economic, political, social, and environmental fields. This compendium is considered the core of a successful process of market positioning for our company. Click on the button bellow to visualize it!
If the pdf is not displayed Click here to download it.
Agrocapsi will be primarily dedicated to the production and commercialization of biofungicides on a large scale. Our product has proven to be more than capable of doing industrial scaling up, being competitive for newer market tendencies, and showing effectiveness among other crops, which will allow us to meet the needs of the market and expand itself as a company.
The manufacturing process to produce the active ingredients of Agrocapsi consists of four stages: peptide synthesis, extraction, purification and nanoencapsulation. We explain this in the Proposed Implementation. This process must be considered within the production costs. We took advantage from the SuperPro Designer displayed prices that are given by the software (these are based on US fees). It is a good reference, but still, they must be adapted to Mexican currency on the future.
Figure 6. Industrial production process of Agrocapsi.
The industrial scale-up process goal will be used to produce the active ingredients of Agrocapsi in another country. To do this, a simulation of the production process of antimicrobial peptides at an industrial level using the SuperPro Designer software was performed. The software allowed us to carry out an analysis of the investment costs (Composed of equipment, total direct cost of the plant, total indirect cost of the plant and contractor and contingency fees), annual operation and profits per year.
It also allowed us to calculate both investment and operating costs. To make an estimate of the amount of peptides that we will produce, we used the concentration predicted by the mathematical model. An operating time of 7,920 h and 864 potholes throughout the year is also considered, with a bioreactor with a volume of 1,000 L. Based on this data, we perform the mass balances.
Once calculated, we estimated the recovery time of the investment through a Matlab script, the analysis reflects that ideally after 3 years of operation, the company would fully recover the initial investment and begin to make profits.
Figure 7. Costs over the years of peptide prduction.
The brown line is used to pay the debt, and the blue line is the company’s debt. It is important to consider that the annual operating costs are subtracted from the debt. In just three years, we would be able to recover our initial investment. This oughts to be the final peptides production process. Nonetheless, we plan on adapting to the necessities and the budget and resources available at the moment, depending on the company’s maturity.
Wilt is not only susceptible to chilli crops. It can also infect various crops, such as Cucurbitaceae, Solanaceae, and Fabaceae (Parada-Rojas et al., 2021). Therefore, Agrocapsi can be used for other crops. Which increases its demand, raises profits, and opens new possibilities inside the market. Additionally, as a future plan. It is intended to produce biofungicides that attack other phytopathogens on different crops.
Figure 8. Food propense to wilt from Phytophthora capsisi.
The biofungicides market is constantly increasing. The global market of pesticides is anticipated to grow from 6.51 billion USD in 2022 to 18.15 billion USD by 2029, with a CAGR of 15.77% (Fortune Business Insight, 2020). North America dominates the biofungicides market, with 2,262.9 million USD in 2022, and it is projected to reach 5,400 million USD by 2029, with a CAGR of 15.8% (Markets and Markets, 2022; Businesswire, 2021).
Figure 9. Biofungicides market graph.
The factors that favor the growth in of the biofungicides market are: the demand for organic food, dismissal of chemical active ingredients in pesticides, rising of microbial diseases, increasing resistance to agrochemicals on fungi and other pathogens, and the necessity to increase crop productivity and plant production. For this reason, it is expected that this market will continue to rise, making the production and commercialization of biofungicides a prosperous and lucrative business.
We are aware that launching a product and operating a company represents big challenges that come with several risks. Hence, we developed a Risk Analysis and Assessment to ensure that the product is produced, marketed, and released into the environment, complying with all of the necessary Mexican regulations. It is a compliance document for the producer and the distributor. It specifies Agrocapsi's classification, potential risks, container and packaging, equipment for personal protection, transportation, and waste disposal.
If the pdf is not displayed Click here to download it.
Likewise, we have analyzed the potential risks that Agrocapsi might experience, along with their probability and severity. While also anticipating them by proposing a possible solution. Just in case they happen, we know how to prevent them.
| RISK ANALYSIS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk | Probability | Severity | Solution | |||
| Product only sells locally. | Possible | Acceptable | We could make international advertising campaigns to sell our product in more places. | |||
| Product is slightly less effective than competitive brands. | Improbable | Acceptable | We could improve our formula learning from our competitors, although with market research, we discovered our formula is more specific than theirs thanks to iRNA. | |||
| It also affects beneficial microorganisms. | Posible | Not desirable | The potential harm that Agrocapsi could have is much less when compared to existent products. | |||
| Farmers stick to other products. | Posible | Not desirable | We could promote our product with previous buyers and show the effectiveness of Agrocapsi. | |||
| Product doesn't sell as well as we thought. | Posible | Not desirable | We could do publicity campaigns to sell more of our product. | |||
| Product causes damage to user/crops. | Improbable | Intolerable | This may not happen due to the molecules used on Agrocapsi. If this risk happens, we must warn users on using protective equipment while handling our product. | |||
| Competitors improve their product and work better than ours. | Posible | Intolerable | We could learn from our competitors and improve our formula. | |||
| Project is left aside. | Improbable | Intolerable | We have promised to keep up with Agrocapsi. Our goal is to be the best product on the market and we won’t back off. | |||
We have taken part in different bioentrepreneurship, funding, intellectual property, and legal events that have marked our project. Along with providing us with tools and guidance to develop Agrocapsi. Additionally, they have prepared us by boosting our capabilities such as creativity, leadership, patience, cooperation, responsibility, empathy, and passion, and conceived new skills like the entrepreneurial ability to take advantage of various opportunities for the development of an enterprise with the available resources, and the ability to empathize by understanding causes and consequences, from short to long term, of social problems to generating an integral solution.
| Biohack | Chihuahua, Chihuahua | April 22-23, 2022 |
Description:
Biohack has the purpose of generating a social impact and developing innovative ideas for the resolution of a problematic involved in various areas such as agriculture, nutrition, environment or health, through the application of biotechnological strategies, amongst hundreds of undergraduate students from all of the Tec de Monterrey campuses.
Objective:
At the event, we had the opportunity to receive feedback from experts in the agricultural, biochemistry, synthetic biology and entrepreneurship field. With the aim of approaching the validation of our idea, and to ensure that our project had a real impact, marketing value and was achievable.
Keypoints:
At the end of the event, we obtained third place and a scholarship for a pre-incubation of the project at Orion Startups.
For the past months we have received funding from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey to achieve our proof of concept. In addition, we were granted 2 scholarships by the Orion Technology Park to develop this Bioentrepreneurship project. One scholarship was for the NOVA Orion pre-Incubation program phase 1 and the other one was for phase 2.
Additionally, we have reviewed some open calls for bioentrepreneurship projects, both nationally and internationally were we fulfill the requirements, such as the National Entrepreneurial Fund (FNE), Young Entrepreneurs Program 2022-2023, IncMty, Thought for food and Santander X in which we can win $55,000 USD, and in the Institution Chihuahua Innova there are some potential investors that could be interested in our project.
Chihuahua, the state we live in, is the number one state in the production of chilli in Mexico, so our project may impact greatly on our community as well as in our society, improving life and health quality, promoting environment care and enhancing the economy of the state.
Agrocapsi oughts to implement circular economy through the reagents or waste produced during the manufacturing process and adopt clean energies for a greener and ecological way of giving back to the planet.
Although society's current point of view and acceptance of genetic editing can cause difficulties while entering the market, and could contaminate the soils and waters if the container is wrongly disposed of, without mentioning that the environmental conditions play an important role on the manufacture of our product by the temperature, pH and humidity. Nevertheless we are working on a strategy to decrease the negative impact of our product on both the environmental aspects as well as the social perception.
An important part during the creation of a technological company is to evaluate the interest that the different key partners and potential customers have in the product, for which one of the most important tasks was the preparation of letters of intent for each of them.
These letters are a document that rectifies the interest of the different users to distribute, commercialize and acquire our product, as well as the interest they have for the product to reach the market.
The letter of intent for distribution is addressed to logistics companies interested in the transportation and distribution of our product. Likewise, the letter of intent for commercialization focused on those companies dedicated to the trade of agro-inputs interested in adding our product to their catalog. On the other hand, the letter of intent for acquisition is addressed to those users interested in acquiring the product once its commercialization begins. Finally, the letters of intent for experimentation are for the producers interested in participating in the experimental phase by carrying out field trials on their crops.
If the pdf is not displayed Click here to download it.
If the pdf is not displayed Click here to download it.
If the pdf is not displayed Click here to download it.
Agrocapsi is way more than just a product, We're a group with different interdisciplinary skills, individual points of view, charming personalities and diverse backgrounds, that have helped make Agrocapsi such an integral solution aimed to improve the quality of life of not only our direct communities, but the world. Thus, aligned with the “Sustainable Development Goals”, legislations and international norms. Every team member has put nothing but effort, excellence and dedication in order to make Agrocapsi go beyond a lab project and re-humanize science. We think this is achievable by closing gaps with those that are being affected by the problem we’re trying to solve, listening to their issues and integrating their ideas into our product in order to deliver the best possible solution to this issue.
Businesswire. (2021). Global biofungicides Market Outlook 2029 - ResearchAndMarkets.com. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from Businesswire.com website: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211117006156/en/Global-biofungicides-Market-Outlook-2029---ResearchAndMarkets.com
CONACYT. (2022). Guía para el Diagnóstico del Nivel de Madurez Tecnológica. https://conacyt.mx/wp-content/uploads/convocatorias/desarrollo_tecnologico_innovacion_abierta/AIT_Mexico/2022/Anexo_2_Guia_NMT.pdf
Corona, I. (2016). El desarrollo de la agricultura y el impacto que tendría en las finanzas públicas de México. Retrieved from https://cefp.gob.mx/formulario/Trabajo_12a.pdf
Fan, G., Yang, Y., Li, T., Lu, W., Du, Y. U., Qiang, X., ... & Shan, W. (2018). A Phytophthora capsici RXLR effector targets and inhibits a plant PPIase to suppress endoplasmic reticulum-mediated immunity. Molecular plant, 11(8), 1067-1083.
Food and Agriculture Organization. (2021). FAO - News Article: Climate change fans spread of pests and threatens plants and crops, new FAO study. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from Fao.org website: https://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1402920/icode/
Fortune Business Insights. (2022). biofungicides Market Size, Share | Growth Analysis Report [2029]. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from Fortunebusinessinsights.com website: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/biofungicides-market-100073
Geetha, R. G., Krishnankutty Nair Chandrika, S., Saraswathy, G. G., Nair Sivakumari, A., & Sakuntala, M. (2021). ROS Dependent Antifungal and Anticancer Modulations of Piper colubrinum Osmotin. Molecules, 26(8), 2239. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules26082239
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. (2019). Agricultura. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from Inegi.org.mx website: https://www.inegi.org.mx/temas/agricultura/
Markets and Markets. (2022). biofungicides Market Statistics, Growth Dynamics, And Future Trends | MarketsandMarkets. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from Marketsandmarkets.com website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/biofungicides-267.html
Nabor-Romero, O., Rojas-Martínez, R. I., Ochoa-Martínez, D. L., Vega-Arreguin, J., Sánchez-Flores, F. A., & Zavaleta-Mejía, E. (2020). AVANCES EN EL CONOCIMIENTO SOBRE EL ROMPIMIENTO DE LA RESISTENCIA DE CHILE CM-334 (CAPSICUM ANNUUM L.) A PHYTOPHTHORA CAPSICI POR NACOBBUS ABERRANS. Nematropica, 50(1), 45-58.
Parada-Rojas, C. H., Granke, L. L., Naegele, R. P., Hansen, Z., Hausbeck, M. K., Kousik, C. S., ... & Quesada-Ocampo, L. M. (2021). A diagnostic guide for Phytophthora capsici infecting vegetable crops. Plant Health Progress, 22(3), 404-414.
Plan International. (2022). Global Food Crisis. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from Plan International website: https://plan-international.org/emergencies/global-food-crisis/
Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales. (2018). Las 64 variedades de chile en México. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from gob.mx website: https://www.gob.mx/semarnat/articulos/las-64-variedades-de-chile-en-mexico?idiom=es#:~:text=Entre%20los%20m%C3%A1s%20conocidos%20est%C3%A1n,de%20una%20u%20otra%20regi%C3%B3n.
Varasteh Shams, M., Nazarian-Firouzabadi, F., Ismaili, A. (2019). Cloning, expression and antimicrobial activity of a recombinant (CBD)2-DrsB1 peptide against human microbial pathogens. Journal of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, 26(4), 404-412.
World Health Organization. (2022). UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from Who.int website: https://www.who.int/news/item/06-07-2022-un-report--global-hunger-numbers-rose-to-as-many-as-828-million-in-2021
