ISCA selected by Barclays partnership has a high growth venture solving a world challenge
Oct. 27– NEW YORK – After a rigorous selection process involving hundreds of world-class companies, ISCA Technologies, Inc., a green agtech company based in Riverside, Calif., has been chosen to join 12 other growth-stage ventures at the 2020 Unreasonable Impact Americas program, which this year is being offered as a fully digital experience.
Agenor Mafra-Neto, ISCA’s CEO, will join the other entrepreneurs from across North America to take part in the virtual iteration of the Unreasonable Impact program which has been re-imagined into a digital offering, to help accelerate the growth of their companies.
Impacting the future of food, energy, sustainable living, and supply chains, each entrepreneur is selected to participate based on their potential to create at least 500 jobs within the next five years. Cumulatively, the thirteen ventures have generated more than USD $121.8 million in revenue and raised USD $562.73 million in funding.
ISCA is producing the next generation of environmentally sustainable insect controls needed to feed the world while also protecting the environment. ISCA’s innovations harness the power of pheromones and other naturally occurring compounds to control problem insects by manipulating their behavior. ISCA’s products protect crops and boost yields by preventing pest species from mating or by repelling them away from crops, among other sustainable strategies.
“All our products affect only the targeted pest species, leaving honey bees and wildlife unharmed, and they biodegrade in the field without polluting the environment,” Mafra-Neto said. “We are pleased to join the 2020 Unreasonable Impact Americas program to expand our footprint in world agriculture to increase food security also helping the planet move away from an unsustainable legacy of toxic insecticides that spur pest resistance and contaminate our food and ecosystems.”
Unreasonable Impact is an innovative partnership between Barclays and Unreasonable Group that supports high-growth ventures tackling some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges to scale and create thousands of new jobs. Comprising programs in Europe, Asia and The Americas, the now fully digital version connects the entrepreneurs to a global community of world-class mentors and industry specialists, including experts from across Barclays.
Joe McGrath, Global Head of Banking at Barclays, said, “We are delighted to welcome the latest cohort of ventures onto the program and to partner with Unreasonable Group to support them on their journey to scale. At the forefront of innovation in their sectors, we continue to be inspired by each entrepreneur as they challenge the status quo with their impactful solutions.”
Daniel Epstein, Founder and CEO of Unreasonable Group, said: “Unreasonable Impact is one of the fastest-growing networks of impact ventures in the world, demonstrating that it’s possible to do well and good at the same time. We are humbled to welcome ISCA into this global community, and we are privileged to continue to support the growth of the most exciting and innovative ventures in the world.”
To date, the ventures that comprise the Unreasonable Impact community have positively impacted more than 220 million people, reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 55 million tons, and generated more than 38,000 net new jobs. The companies have also raised more than USD $2 billion in funding. ISCA joins this notable global network in its shared effort to create thousands of jobs on the frontier of the green economy.
For more information, visit www.unreasonableimpact.com.
The participating companies include:
Dandelion Energy: Replacing existing heating & cooling equipment with geothermal systems harvesting underground energy
Dishcraft Robotics: Simplifying dining operations, saving water, and reducing chemical use through robotics dish-washing innovation
Full Harvest: Empowering sustainable food waste management with the marketplace for surplus and imperfect produce
Goodr Co: Providing an end-to-end profitable solution for businesses to reduce food waste and combat hunger
Imprint Energy: Developing ultrathin, flexible zinc-poly batteries that are nontoxic, high energy density, and more environmentally friendly than lithium
ISCA Technologies: Using naturally-occurring pheromones that manipulate insect behavior to prevent pest resistance and pollution
Miyamoto International: Providing resiliency expertise that sustains industries, safeguards communities, and prevents environmental damage around the world
Natural Fiber Welding: Transforming the soft-goods material industry from petroleum addiction and linear life-cycles to plant-based, inherent circularity
Opus 12: Recycling CO2 emissions into chemicals and fuels that are cost-competitive with petroleum-sourced products
Solstice: Making local, renewable energy accessible to every American through community solar
StormFisher Biogas: Re-purposing the world’s scarcest commodities in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner
Sylvatex: Developing smart, sustainable, low-cost chemicals made of biomaterials to produce energy, enhance the environment, and fabricate materials and structures
TerViva: Growing the world’s most scalable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly source of oil and protein
About Unreasonable Impact, created with Barclays
Unreasonable Impact is an innovative multi-year multi-geographic partnership between Barclays and Unreasonable Group to launch the world’s first global network focused on scaling up entrepreneurial solutions that will help employ thousands worldwide in the emerging green economy. To date, the more than 120 ventures that comprise the global cohort operate in more than 180 countries, have raised over $3bn USD in funding, have generated over $2.7bn USD in revenue, and have created more than 37,000 net new jobs since joining Unreasonable Impact. For more information, please visit www.unreasonableimpact.com.
About Barclays
Barclays is a British universal bank. The company is diversified by business, by different types of customers and clients, and by geography. Barclays’ businesses include consumer banking and payments operations around the world, as well as a top-tier, full service, global corporate and investment bank, all of which are supported by their service company which provides technology, operations and functional services across the Group.
For further information about Barclays, please visit www.home.barclays.
About Unreasonable Group
Bringing together a global network of entrepreneurs, investors, creatives and business leaders, Unreasonable acts as a catalytic platform for entrepreneurs tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges facing us today. From designing highly curated immersive programmes, facilitating access to a global network of mentors to operating a private equity fund and providing advanced storytelling and media activities, Unreasonable operates at the highest intersection of business and impact. It is uniquely positioned to support growth stage entrepreneurs solving key global environment and social challenges to scale up through the deployment of knowledge, networks and capital.
For more information about Unreasonable, please visit www.unreasonablegroup.com.
About ISCA Technologies
ISCA is a green agtech company that provides the next generation of insect control products that will disrupt the world’s agricultural market by harnessing the power of pheromones and other semiochemicals that manipulate the behavior of targeted insect species. ISCA’s insect control innovations are efficacious, environmentally sustainable, cost-effective, and can be applied mechanically to both row and specialty crops. ISCA is headquartered in Riverside, California, and has subsidiaries with offices and manufacturing facilities in the United States, Brazil, and India.
For more information or to set up an interview, please contact ISCA USA Communications Director David Danelski at (951) 850-0143 or ddanelski@ISCA.com.