Pete Nelson has been an experimental farmer, venture investor, and agricultural innovation architect over last three decades, building and scaling companies at the nexus of science, technology, and production agriculture. He has launched alternative crops from first variety trials through market entry, co-developed novel biomaterials, and shaped national programs like the USDA BioPreferred certification. Pete built and sold a university tech commercialization firm, co-founded the first U.S. agriculture-focused accelerator, and has evaluated hundreds of agtech startups—directly supporting a robust portfolio across robotics, biologics, analytics, and advanced equipment.

As founder and president of AgLaunch, Pete pioneered the farmer network investment model, embedding leading producers as co-developers in every stage of the innovation cycle. This structure reduces capital risk, accelerates adoption, and creates proprietary data advantages. He co-created the thesis and raised capital for the first early-stage U.S. venture fund dedicated to agriculture. In addition to agtech, his portfolio and advisory work has spanned plant-based protein expression, scalable biological inputs, and high-value specialty crop supply chains.

Over his career, Pete has raised tens of millions for ventures and platforms he has led or co-led, while helping portfolio companies raise millions in follow-on capital—driving adoption of technologies across millions of acres. Grounded in first-hand farming experience and sharpened by both significant wins and instructive failures, Pete’s mission is to generate top-tier venture returns while building a more profitable, sustainable, and resilient agricultural system.