Co-Founder, AI Startups in Agrifood
6-Month DIAL Ventures Fellowship | Fall 2026 Cohort
At DIAL Ventures, we build new digital companies that take on the agrifood industry's hardest problems. Our Fall 2026 cohort begins August 3 and is focused on one thing: putting AI to work against the costly frictions that run through the agrifood supply chain. We are looking for the founders who want to build the companies that do it.
You do not need an agriculture background, and you do not need to be an engineer. You need to be a founder. If you have started companies, won over early customers, and turned raw ideas into real businesses, and you are comfortable putting technology and AI to work even when you are not the one writing the code, we want to talk to you. We bring the industry. You bring the entrepreneurial firepower.
Over six months we immerse you in the agrifood system from the inside: four weeks of intensive in-person residency across three sessions, hands-on visits with operating companies, and regular working sessions with senior leaders from across the agrifood value chain. Outside residency, the work is remote-first. From there, our studio process moves you from high-impact industry themes to a validated business you can launch:
• Ideas sourced from industry and Purdue research
• Concept testing directly with industry partners
• Minimum viable product definition
• Business and market-entry plan development
• Pre-seed funding to launch your company (up to $500K)
• Post-launch support: software, product design, key hires, marketing, finance, and legal
• Field trials arranged with industry partners
• Initial sales conversations opened with industry partners
• Help securing your seed round to fund growth
Here is how it works. During the ideation-to-concept phase, you work alongside industry experts to move from theme to opportunity to product concept to business plan, all in under six months. This is paid, full-time work. If your concept becomes a company, the fund invests up to $500K in pre-seed capital, and you step in as co-founder, with the founding team and employee pool holding 65% of the company and a compensation package you negotiate with your board. The six-month fellowship is the first leg; from there, plan on a 12-to-18-month push as a co-founder to reach your seed round. That build phase is where we stand up the functions a young company needs so you can stay focused on getting the product right and reaching first revenue fast.
This is a rare shot to co-found a company in one of the hottest segments in tech, with industry demand and capital lined up before day one. We select just three Fellows for the Fall cohort, and the window is open now.
Send us a message through the EasyApply button and we will send you a link to the full program and start your application → Applications close July 5, 2026.