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Startups2 min read

Venn Innovation Founder AMA Puts AgroGene's Four-Win Streak on Stage

Moncton's Venn Innovation hosted AgroGene Solutions CEO Dr. Pascale Michaud for an open founder conversation on Oct. 7, walking through four startup wins stacked in two years — from NBIF's $50k Breakthru prize to Startupfest's $100k Best of the Fest.

Two founders in conversation on a stage as four win cards stack up beside them — Breakthru $50k, InnovateNB, Spring People's Choice, Startupfest $100k — with a readout landing: four wins in two years.

Venn Innovation hosted an open founder conversation on Oct. 7 with AgroGene Solutions CEO Dr. Pascale Michaud, retelling how the Moncton agtech stacked four startup wins in two years: a $50,000 NBIF Breakthru prize, the InnovateNB Emerging Innovator honour, a People's Choice Award from Spring's Invest Together in Women-Led Impact program, and the $100,000 Best of the Fest investment prize at Startupfest.

The conversation

Venn framed the session as a founder AMA: an open Q&A with Moncton founders on how AgroGene put the four wins together. Michaud founded AgroGene with three Université de Moncton colleagues and has been the public face of the company through each of the four wins.

The four wins

The streak starts with NBIF money: AgroGene took a $50,000 investment from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation at the Breakthru Accelerating Cleantech pitching event in March 2025, beating three other cleantech finalists: OceanAM, Binovate and Decarb Technologies. Then came provincial recognition — Michaud was named Emerging Innovator at the 2025 InnovateNB awards — and a People's Choice Award in Spring's Invest Together in Women-Led Impact program, which pairs women-led impact ventures with investors. The capstone was Montreal: the $100,000 Best of the Fest Investment Prize at Startupfest this July, the headline prize in a Winners' Circle that handed out $825,000.

The company

AgroGene grew out of Université de Moncton research. Michaud, a molecular biologist, co-founded it with Dr. Luc Boudreau, Dr. Nicolas Pichaud and Dr. Gilles Robichaud to sell beekeepers what beekeepers can't get on their own: fast, non-invasive hive diagnostics. The company's pitch is disease detection, hive-health profiling and year-round monitoring that flag trouble before symptoms show — a practical answer to a province losing 30 to 50 percent of its hives a year.

Why it matters

The streak reads like a map of the province's pipeline. Breakthru money from NBIF, recognition at InnovateNB, then a national-stage prize in Montreal — each win bought the next one credibility, and the progression is exactly what the support ladder is designed to produce. The AMA format is the other half of the point: Venn turning one company's run into operating knowledge for the next cohort of Moncton founders.

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