Pluton CEO Charlie Walch will join next week’s Ag Innovation roundtable as part of STL Startup Week.
The second annual STL Startup Week offers an extended lineup of online workshops and special events designed for idea-thinkers, innovators, researchers, investors, entrepreneurs, and small business owners to connect, learn, and grow their businesses. The series of virtual events are scheduled for Nov. 9-13, 2020.
Virtual attendees will have the opportunity to access over 62 sessions throughout the week, from the opening Daily Espresso to the closing Bourbon Friday and Act in Space Hackathon. In collaboration with Entrepreneur Quarterly (EQ), Matt Menietti, an author for EQ, will host the Daily Espresso every morning at 9:30 am for a preview of the day’s activities and news from the startup community, followed by EQ Ecosystem Labs, which will feature roundtable discussions curated by Jonathan Allen, Editor-in-Chief of EQ, that are focused on the work being done on a day-to-day basis within specific industry sectors of the St. Louis Startup Ecosystem.
Walch will participate in the Ag Innovation roundtable scheduled for 10-11 a.m. CST on Friday, Nov. 13, which will focus on bio-based, hardware/tech, and producer innovations related to the agricultural industry. Startups in the region will talk about what they are doing in the space and available opportunities for other startups. EQ Managing Editor-at-Large Dan Reus will moderate the discussion.
Walch will share news about his startup, Pluton Biosciences, which surveys billions of microbes in the soil to identify undiscovered bacteria, fungi, and viruses for development into sustainable biosolutions for the pharmaceutical, agricultural, bioremediation and pesticide industries. The company’s first discovery was novel bacteria that can kill disease carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae.
“Pluton’s target discovery customers make $70 billion in products for use in agriculture and pest control. Our Proof of Concept experiment discovered 10 new bacteria that kill larvae of deadly mosquitoes. We are co-developing a mosquito larvicide and conducting research with the Danforth Plant Science Center to identify the mechanism of action of our larvicidal microbes,” said Walch.
Additional participants in the Ag Innovation roundtable include:
Stephanie Regagnon, Executive Director of Innovation Partnerships at the Danforth Plant Science Center
Tyrean Lewis, Founder and President of Heru Urban Farms
Fardis Najafifard, CTO of Calving Technologies
Sharon Berberich, President at Saber Consulting
For more information about STL Startup Week and to register to attend the roundtable discussions, visit https://members.entrepreneurquarterly.com/eq-ecosystem-labs