Did you know that some beekeepers sell pollination services to farmers? In fact, according to Bloomberg, they help pollinate 70% of the world’s crops, and in the U.S. alone, they generate US$435 million a year from their services. Beeflow, an Argentine biotechnology company, has developed a nutrient compound that helps bees strengthen their immune systems, improving their ability to function in cold temperatures and increasing the number of their flights by up to 70%. The result: they can double the bees’ pollination capacity.

Beeflow is part of the investment portfolio of GridX, a startup accelerator focused on the biotechnology sector in Argentina. The accelerator, which is halfway to reaching its goal of raising US$50 million in capital, has attracted the interest of several Argentine corporate leaders, including Marcos Galperin of Mercado Libre at the helm. In fact, the accelerator’s president is Miguel Galuccio, former president of Argentina’s state-owned oil company YPF and founder of a successful oil company, Vista Oil, which focuses on exploiting unconventional oil and gas deposits.

GridX seeks to connect scientists working on biotechnology projects with entrepreneurs, drawing on Argentina’s strong scientific tradition, which includes three Nobel laureates in medicine and chemistry. The accelerator has 42 companies in its portfolio. GridX counts these and other Argentine corporate heroes among its contributors, as well as the American investor Paul McEwan, who specializes in biotechnology investments, and family offices from Argentina and Mexico.