Agri-Starts

What Agri-Starts does

Agri-Starts, Inc. is a privately held wholesale plant tissue culture propagation nursery headquartered at 1728 Kelly Park Road in Apopka, Florida. Founded in 1984, the company specializes in the propagation and wholesale distribution of vegetatively reproduced starter plants (liners) across seven product categories: Tropical, Edibles, Interior Foliage, Native, Flowering, Rare/Specialty, and Aquatics. Its catalog includes hundreds of varieties spanning blackberries, blueberries, muscadine grapes, dragon fruit, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, and ornamental foliage such as Anthurium, Philodendron, Syngonium, and Spathiphyllum.

The company's core technology is plant tissue culture micropropagation, with a key differentiator being its portfolio of inbound licensing agreements with major U.S. university breeding programs. Agri-Starts holds propagation rights to patented blackberry releases from the University of Arkansas (Apache, Natchez, Ouachita, Prime-Ark series), Southern Highbush blueberry and muscadine grape varieties from the University of Florida (licensed through Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc.), and caneberry releases from NC State University. These exclusive licenses, combined with U.S.-based propagation and a "Propagated in the U.S.A." positioning, provide commercial customers with legally-propagated, certified disease-free planting material that competitors cannot replicate without separate licensing arrangements.

Agri-Starts generates revenue exclusively through wholesale plant sales to commercial growers, nurseries, and landscape professionals. The company operates a strictly B2B, wholesale-only model: pricing is not publicly disclosed and customers must register for a wholesale account and log in to view pricing and place orders. Go-to-market is driven by sustained presence at major industry trade shows (Cultivate by AmericanHort, The Landscape Show), an e-newsletter and downloadable catalog, and a comprehensive online product catalog with availability data and growing specifications (pH, chill hours, crop times). The company is independently owned with no disclosed parent company, no venture capital backing, and no institutional investment structure evident in the source materials.

Name

Agri-Starts

Legal name

AgriStarts, Inc.

Website

https://agristarts.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Agri-Starts is a wholesale plant tissue culture nursery founded in 1984 in Apopka, Florida, propagating licensed patented varieties — including university-bred blackberries, blueberries, and muscadines — for commercial growers, nurseries, and landscape professionals via a B2B account-gated model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wholesale Nursery Plants

NAICS

Greenhouse, Nursery, and Floriculture Production (1114), Food Crops Grown Under Cover (11141), Fruit and Tree Nut Farming (1113)

SIC

Agricultural Production-Crops (100), Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Fruit & Nut Planting Stock (Rootstocks, Nursery Trees, Vines) (AFABAFAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Greenhouse Vegetable Production (Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Leafy Greens) (AFAGAHAA)

Keywords

• Wholesale nursery plants
• Tissue culture propagation
• Starter plant liners
• Edible crop plants
• Ornamental foliage plants

Headquarters

HQ city

Apopka

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Wholesale Plant Sales: Revenue generated from selling propagated plant material wholesale to commercial growers, nurseries, and landscape professionals. Products include vegetative cuttings, young plants, and finished nursery stock across tropical, edible, ornamental, and native plant categories.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Agri-Starts is a wholesale plant propagator that produces and supplies tissue-cultured starter plants (liners) to the commercial green industry. The company specializes in vegetatively propagated plants across tropical, edible, interior foliage, native, flowering, rare/specialty, and aquatic categories, and holds licenses to propagate patented varieties from university breeding programs including University of Arkansas, University of Florida, and NC State University.

Product overview

Agri-Starts is a wholesale plant propagation nursery offering a diverse portfolio of tissue culture plantlets across multiple categories. The company operates as a single-product wholesale business focused on propagating and supplying young plants (liners) to commercial growers, landscapers, and nurseries. Their core offerings include tropical plants (Alocasia, Anthurium, Philodendron, Spathiphyllum, Syngonium), edible plants (blackberries, blueberries, dragon fruit, grapes, ginger, turmeric), native plants (Walters Viburnum), flowering plants, and specialty/rare plants. The product line is organized by plant category with individual varieties available as tissue culture propagations sold in bulk quantities to wholesale customers. No software platform or modules are offered—exclusively plant material for commercial growing operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tropical Plants

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Ball Horticultural Company: Major global horticulture company producing seed and vegetative liners for commercial growers. Comparable to AgriStarts because both supply starting plant material (liners/seedlings) to the commercial green industry, though Ball operates at much larger scale with a broader global portfolio.
• Bailey Nurseries: Large U.S. wholesale nursery producing finished plant material and liners across ornamentals, fruits, and edibles. Comparable to AgriStarts in the wholesale B2B model and edible crop category exposure, though significantly larger and more vertically integrated.
• Costa Farms: Major U.S. tropical and foliage plant producer also operating its own propagation facilities and wholesale programs. Comparable to AgriStarts in the tropical/interior foliage categories and Florida-based production, though Costa is significantly larger with integrated retail brands.
• Syngenta Flowers: Large breeder and producer of flower and ornamental starter plants sold through wholesale channels. Comparable to AgriStarts in the B2B wholesale propagation model and licensed variety strategy.
• Dümmen Orange: Global breeder and propagator of ornamental and edible crops, including tissue culture-based starter plants for the wholesale market. Comparable to AgriStarts as a direct competitor in licensed, patented-variety propagation at commercial scale.
• Proven Winners: Branded plant cooperative of wholesale propagators supplying flowering and ornamental liners under a licensed label. Comparable to AgriStarts in the licensed wholesale propagation business model with patented variety programs sold to growers and garden centers.

Direct peers

• Green Leaf Plants (Aris Horticulture): Wholesale propagator specializing in perennials, grasses, and tissue-cultured liners sold to commercial growers. Direct peer of AgriStarts in the wholesale starter-plant business with shared tissue culture methodology and customer base.
• Walters Gardens: Major U.S. wholesale perennial liner producer supplying young plants to nurseries and growers. Highly comparable to AgriStarts — both are wholesale-only propagators serving commercial growers with starter plant material, with overlapping categories including native and specialty varieties.
• Fall Creek Farm & Nursery: Wholesale blueberry nursery propagating and licensing blueberry varieties for commercial growers worldwide. Highly comparable to AgriStarts because of overlapping blueberry SKU portfolio, licensed propagation model, and B2B wholesale customer base.
• Star Roses and Plants: Wholesale nursery producing woody ornamental liners, edible fruit plants, and branded plant programs. Comparable to AgriStarts as a U.S. wholesale propagator with licensed variety programs and B2B grower relationships.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/agri.starts

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Agri-Starts