Meet Venture Leader Olga Dubey’s plant-inspired treatment startup

12.03.2019 11:08, Guillaume Tinsel

Ten Venture Leaders will represent Switzerland in Silicon Valley in March. Meet Olga Dubey, CEO and Founder of AgroSustain. Learn more about biotech and plant-inspired treatments and Olga's expectations on her roadshow in Silicon Valley.

Can you introduce yourself, how your company started and what your project is?
I’m Olga Dubey, CEO and Founder of AgroSustain that was co-founded together with Jean-Pascal Aribot (CCO) and PD. Dr. Sylvain Dubey (CTO). AgroSustain SA, which incorporated in May 2018, aims to develop and market novel, efficient, plant-inspired treatments against mold growing on fruits & vegetables post-harvest. We provide a unique offering to food retailers and distributors aiming to reduce the food-loss caused by fungal pathogens in an environmental-friendly manner.
 
What attracted you to Silicon Valley as a business development destination?
Venture Leaders Technology provides a unique opportunity for Swiss startups to discover new markets, as well as investment opportunities in the biggest AgTech markets, which will prepare AgroSustain for further market expansion.
What do you hope to achieve from the trip? What are your expectations and goals?
I’m looking forward to getting in touch with the other startups participating in VL Tech 2019, as well as meeting U.S.-entrepreneurs who can expand our entrepreneurial network and share their experiences. It’s also very exciting to showcase AgroSustain to U.S.-investors and get their feedback on our business.
 
Why is Venture Leaders Technology beneficial for your startup?
VL Tech has a great track-record of startups that succeeded and became scaleups, in part thanks to their business model gaining early exposure to one of the world’s largest markets. This trip will give us an opportunity to learn from top-notch experts and VL peers.
 
What is pushing you towards international expansion?
Proving our business model in the U.S. – the most-established AgriTech market – will be a great challenge, offering great potential.



What do you foresee as the largest hurdles towards expansion into the U.S. market?
Entering new markets is always a challenge, especially when you are a small company. One of the main difficulties may be identifying the right people locally, who can open the doors for our technology so that we can perform pilot studies before initiating sales. Another hurdle is having sufficient teamwork once starting sales in the U.S. and Switzerland, and establishing good coordination between both locations.
 
What makes you most nervous or excited about the trip?
The U.S. AgTech startup ecosystem is strong and well known, so it may give us new competitive insights into possible expansion in the U.S.-market, as well as point out potential challenges.
 
Do you have a “funny/best day” anecdote about being an entrepreneur?
As an entrepreneur, you wear several hats at the same time. On a lucky day, you can sign a contract as a salesperson, receive a positive certification approval as CTO and win a grant as CFO. Who else can have this much excitement in such a short time?



Read about the Startup Champions kick-off event and follow the trip on Twitter using the hashtag #VLeadersTech

Venture Leaders Technology is sponsored by Rothschild & Co Bank, Kellerhals Carrard, DPD, Swisscom, Canton de Vaud, ETH Zürich and EPF Lausanne.