Singular Seeds is a daughter company of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) with a different history than most ventures classified in this way. The three founding partners of startup They discovered within the University the desire to undertake and there they received the initial tools to do so, but they are not Unicamp alumni.
They met when they were studying biotechnology at the Federal University of Alfenas (UNIFAL-MG). The relationship with Unicamp emerged after graduation, in 2020, when they discovered the Unicamp Challenge, a program organized by Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency Open to anyone interested in learning how to model a technology-based business.
The team received mentoring and was among the finalists. The initial idea was to seek professional training, but the interaction with other teams and professionals arose the desire to undertake and place the company on the market, as explained by Thiago Lopes, one of the founding partners, alongside Caio Rosa and Thiago Felix: “We realized the Unicamp as an opportunity for being a technology hub, especially in the startups. It is the greatest university in terms of innovation that we could be at. We combined this with the possibility of participating in the Unicamp Challenge program, which showed how we could operate in the seed quality market. This is how Singular Seeds was born. At first, it was a game to develop ourselves professionally, but then it became a business”, remembers Lopes.
Today, the main focus of startup is to develop a machine and a system to meet a need in the seed quality sector. Currently, two main tests are used, vigor and germination, but with long analysis periods and a high degree of human error.
The machine proposed by Singular Seeds can help work on farms and industries, reducing time and expenses. The competitive advantage is analyzes with larger samples in just a few minutes. Current stamina tests usually last 12 hours. Germination may take between 5 and 7 days to obtain the final analysis.
Founded in 2021, the startup still needs to develop and test the technology, in addition to improving the team's business capabilities. This motivated biotechnologists to look for Unicamp Technology-Based Business Incubator (Incamp). “Incubation makes a big difference for startups like ours, which arise from technologies available at universities. The mentoring, the networking and the events held by Incamp provide the necessary guidance for great partnerships. As incubated people, we realized that taking our plans off paper has become something more tangible. In just 6 months of incubation we were able to advance in testing the technology and make external contacts”, comments Rosa.
With support from Incamp, the company has already completed, in partnership with a multinational, a proof of concept of the tool for barley moisture testing, used in the beer malting process, and obtained 85% accuracy with tests using a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) low cost. In addition to barley, Singular Seeds plans to use image analysis to classify the quality of grains such as soybeans, corn and coffee.
Singular Seeds is one of more than 40 companies in the Unicamp Scientific and Technological Park ecosystem. Discover the other companies in Community area of the site.
Check out the available spaces and entry forms for:
- Companies that want to install laboratories in the Park to carry out Research and Development (R&D) projects with Unicamp
- Startups or technology-based companies in incubation phase.
Find out more about Incamp
The Unicamp Technology-Based Business Incubator (Incamp), in partnership with Sebrea and Febraec, offers intellectual support to technology-based companies in the pre-incubation or incubation phase, which can also install themselves in the Park's available spaces.
The incubation process varies for each company and can last between six months and three years.
Incamp is accredited by the São Paulo Network of Technology-Based Business Incubators (RPITec) and is certified as a “Reference Center for Support for New Enterprises (Cerne)” for having reached level 1 of good practices in incubation. Read more here.
Find out more about the Unicamp Challenge program
The Unicamp Challenge is a program organized by Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency, open to anyone over 18 years old interested in learning how to model a business based on Unicamp technologies. Participants receive training on how to work with Lean Canvas and carry out a pitch for investors, among others
The competition is free and held annually. Teams must have three to five people. There is a cash prize for the winning team according to the evaluation of a panel.
- Registration for 2022 begins on March 07th. Follow updates on Unicamp Challenge website.
