New Singapore VC firm to invest over $940k in agrifood over the next 3 years

Japan’s Leave a Nest and Singapore’s FocusTech Ventures announced they are collaborating with agricultural equipment manufacturer Kobashi Industries and microalgae products developer and producer Euglena to establish Germi8, an agrifood-focused private investment firm, in Singapore.

From left: Leave a Nest founder and CEO Yukihiro Maru, Kobashi Industries president and CEO Shojiro Kobashi, and Euglena co-founder Kengo Suzuki / Photo credit: Germi8

The firm aims to spur innovation in the agrifood space to solve worldwide issues such as food supply sustainability, climate change, and environmental issues.

Germi8 currently has set no target amount to raise for its fund, according to Leave a Nest founder and CEO Yukihiro Maru, but it aims to invest approximately 100 million yen (US$943,100) in about 20 projects over the next three years. It will be spearheaded and fully funded by the four companies.

Some areas of interest for Germi8 include alternative proteins, animal and aquafeed, waste reduction, precision agriculture, functional foods tied to health and nutrition, as well as technologies that improve food production, safety, and traceability.

“The objective of setting up Germi8 in a small way is to fill the pre-seed and seed gap,” Maru told Tech in Asia. It plans to commit an average of US$100,000 per project, while its extended vehicles follow on with their own investments.

Maru also said that they are currently in the process of expanding the US$90 million Real Tech Fund to Singapore and are targeting Southeast Asia. The fund, established by Leave a Nest and Euglena, has invested in 43 deep-tech startups in Japan, some of which are in the agrifood sector.

“Near term, Germi8 will work closely with Real Tech Fund to expand its strategic capital and strong Japanese network to the ASEAN market,” said Maru.

Agrifood in Southeast Asia

Other agri-focused firms have been calling Singapore home, one of which is global agritech accelerator and investor The Yield Lab. Late last year, it launched Yield Lab Asia Pacific in the country, which aims to invest US$100,000 into early-stage agrifood tech startups.

Foodtech-focused venture capital firm Big Idea Ventures also launched in Singapore earlier this year. Backed by Temasek Holdings, US food giant Tyson Foods, and Enterprise Singapore, the VC firm was targeting to raise US$100 million to invest in startups focused on plant-based food, alternative protein, and related food technologies.

Singapore previously said it plans to open an 18-hectare agrifood innovation park by 2021 in a bid to become a leader in urban agriculture and aquaculture technology. Several government agencies have also formed the FoodInnovate initiative in 2018 to advance the agrifood sector and strengthen its support structure for startups.

In the broader Southeast Asia, more entrepreneurs are drawn to agrifood.

Leave a Nest’s Singapore arm was established in 2010 as a deep tech innovation network focused on Southeast Asia. As of this month, the company’s flagship Tech Planter program has seen a total of 568 participating teams. Participants operating in agrifood tech sector accounted for over 25%, and the number has been growing year on year since the program started in 2014, according to the company.

In the same year, FocusTech Ventures started supporting Tech Planter. It bolstered its relationship with Leave a Nest in February 2018 when the two collaborated to support the cross-pollination of deep tech startups between Japanese and Southeast Asian ecosystems through each of their networks.