The VC planting the seeds for SEA’s agrifood tech bloom

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Hello reader,

As a species, we seem to constantly find ourselves juggling between one self-inflicted issue and another. One moment we’re debating over the need for modern societies to be less reliant on fossil fuels and the next we’re fussing over the gaping hole in the ozone layer that is melting ice in Antarctica.

But as the world’s population hit the eight billion mark earlier this month, food security will likely climb up the priority list.

Studies have found that at least one in five people in Africa go to bed hungry every day, and over 220 million people are undernourished in India. All this is occurring while the world wastes around 931 million tonnes of food – about 17% of global food production.

Fortunately, agrifood tech solutions offer a route to ease the problem of food security while also addressing a host of other sustainability-related issues. The rise of the plant-based meat industry is perhaps one of the more prominent examples of the benefits of investing in the agrifood tech space.

One early-stage VC fund that is looking to enable startups in this sector is Brisbane-based Mandalay Venture Partners.

Today’s featured piece puts Philippe Ceulen, who serves as head of strategy at Mandalay, in the hot seat of Tech in Asia’s latest installment of Recession Run, a Q&A series dissecting investment strategies amid a funding winter.

Today we look at:

• The investment plans of Australia’s Mandalay Venture Partners
• GoTo’s third-quarter results
• Other newsy highlights such as the latest recession-related news and Binance’s plans to go on a hiring spree.

— Shravanth

P.S.: If you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding, fill out this form to get your company featured on our list of fundraising startups.

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Everything from farm to fork

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