Halifax-based Reazent, the maker of organic alternatives to conventional fertilizer products, has beat out hundreds of other competitors internationally to become one of four finalists in Saskatoon agtech giant Nutrien’s Radicle Inclusion Challenge.

Reazent will pitch at the Women in Agribusiness Summit in Nashville, Tennessee on Sept. 28 for a chance to win one of two US$750,000 prizes. Nutrien describes the challenge as being aimed at bolstering underrepresented groups in the field of agricultural technology, including members of the BIPOC community.

Sumit Verma, the Stanford-educated chemicals entrepreneur who founded Reazent in 2019, relocated to Nova Scotia from India. In March, he said Reazent was in the process of raising a funding round sized somewhere between a seed raise and a Series A deal, as well as seeking Canadian regulatory approval, with the United States and Europe soon to come. The company’s products work by using soil bacteria to stimulate root growth and root health.

At the time, Reazent had four employees and a two-member advisory board, and Verma was in the process of hiring more staff.

“The Radicle Inclusion Challenge rewards groundbreaking agriculture technology companies at the forefront of agricultural innovation with inclusion at their core,” he said in a Nutrien-issued statement. “It is the most credible validation of our commitment to sustainable solutions that will shape the future of farming, fostering a more inclusive and resilient agricultural landscape.

“Diversity and inclusion are integral to our culture, and we view them as a source of competitive advantage.”