SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, has appointed seven co-investment partners under Startup SG Equity. This will catalyse more than S$90 million worth of investments to develop Singapore-based startups in the Agrifood tech sector. This was announced by Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Dr Koh Poh Koon recently.
The appointed partners are AgFunder, Hatch, ID Capital, Openspace, The Yield Lab, Trendlines and VisVires New Protein. They were selected based on their investment track record, strong commercialisation resources, networks and expertise, and familiarity with the local startup ecosystem in the Agrifood tech space.
Ted Tan, Chairman of SEEDS Capital and Deputy Chief Executive of Enterprise Singapore said, “Agri-tech is an important sector as we work towards the vision of developing Singapore into a leading food and nutrition hub in Asia. By leveraging on the expertise from the private sector, we will catalyse deep tech innovation through high-potential startups to develop disruptive food and agri-tech solutions, and reduce our reliance on food imports.”
Matthieu Vermersch, Founder and Managing Partner of VisVires New Protein added, “We are delighted to be appointed by SEEDS Capital as a co-investment partner. As one of the first VC funds to focus on disruptive solutions for a healthier, safer and more sustainable food and feed system, we see this as a mark of confidence in our investment approach. We look forward to a fruitful partnership with SEEDS Capital as we work towards achieving Singapore’s aspirations to become a leading hub for agrifood innovation.”
Besides co-investing, SEEDS Capital and the seven partners will provide hands-on assistance, such as introductions to new business partners and providing support to enter new markets, that help early-stage startups in the agrifood tech space fast-track their commercialisation process. SEEDS Capital will provide a co-matching of 7:3 for the first S$500,000 of co-investment, and up to S$4 million per deep tech startup under Startup SG Equity. Startup SG Equity focuses on developing tech startups with intellectual property and global market potential.
Michael Dean, Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of AgFunder said, “We are incredibly excited to be selected as a co-investment Partner with SEEDS Capital. We believe the ASEAN region will be a key market for agrifood technology in view of the almost doubling in venture funding for the agrifood tech we’ve seen in ASEAN over the past 2 years. With Singapore’s connectivity to the region and strong innovation ecosystem, we believe it will be the ideal base for AgFunder to grow our global investments in agrifood tech.”
The newly appointed partners join 18 other SEEDS Capital co-investment partners. Over the past three years, SEEDS Capital and its partners have co-invested over S$130 million in more than 60 startups in Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering, Health & Biomedical Sciences, Services & Digital Economy and Urban Solutions & Sustainability. These sectors are aligned with the core domains of Singapore’s roadmap for research and development under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2020 plan.
