Eutrobac, a New York-based agricultural technology startup acquired by Agriment Services, Inc. (ASI) in April, started as a research idea inspired by environmental issues on a family farm.
The I-Corps alumni startup, founded by Ellie Sangree and Jesse Wexler, recently announced the acquisition, which will bring Eutrobac’s NutriFilter™ technology into a national agricultural distribution network.
But before the acquisition, before pilot testing, and before fundraising, the founders were still trying to understand their market.
“We basically needed to figure out who our customer was,” Wexler said.
Originally, Sangree envisioned the technology as a tool for improving natural water systems. Growing up on a farm exposed her to the environmental impacts of nitrogen pollution and harmful algal growth, leading her to pursue research into water remediation while in college.
“I grew up on a farm and was acutely aware of the environmental issues that come from farming,” Sangree said.
After extensive research and laboratory testing, Sangree developed the biological filtration system that would become NutriFilter™.
“A lot of these papers were pointing to something that didn’t yet exist,” she said.
When Wexler joined the company, the founders turned to the NSF I-Corps program to better understand how the technology could fit into a real market. Through the program and customer discovery interviews conducted at the American Farm Bureau I-Corps conference course in 2024, the team spoke with farmers and industry stakeholders.
“We talked to probably hundreds of farmers over a couple different days,” Wexler said.
Those conversations changed the trajectory of the company. The founders discovered that swine farmers faced significant operational challenges tied to nitrogen management and struvite buildup, a mineral accumulation that can clog waste management pipes and require costly infrastructure replacement.
“We learned that the use case for this technology wasn’t quite the natural systems I originally intended it for, but rather a much more specific agricultural use,” Sangree said.
That customer feedback helped Eutrobac refine both its product and commercialization strategy. The company went on to participate in Rev: Ithaca Startup Works’ hardware accelerator programs in 2024 and 2025, win the New York Business Plan Competition, raise a $160,000 pre-seed round, and conduct pilot testing throughout New York state.
ASI saw strong potential in both the technology and in the founders themselves. Under the agreement, Sangree will continue supporting development efforts as a consultant while completing her PhD, and Wexler has joined ASI full time as Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
For the founders, the acquisition represents the culmination of years of research, customer discovery, and commercialization work supported by New York’s startup ecosystem.
“Without what Rev does, what Cornell does with the I-Corps program, and what the New York startup ecosystem does, we wouldn’t have been able to scale properly,” Wexler said.
Looking back on the company’s journey, the founders describe the experience as a rapid progression from invention to commercialization. Eutrobac’s acquisition highlights the growing impact of hard tech and manufacturing-focused startups emerging from Upstate New York and reflects the role accelerator programming can play in helping early-stage companies scale innovative technologies into commercial markets.