Singapore-based agri-food tech company, Nutrition Technologies, closed a series A funding round from a consortium of investors led by Openspace Ventures and SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore. The funding will be used to establish the largest high-tech commercial-scale insect protein production facility in Southeast Asia, which can produce over 18,000 tons of insect-based feed ingredients and organic fertilizers every year.
This round of investment is the first since SEEDS Capital appointed seven co-investment partners in January 2019 to catalyze over $90 million worth of investments to develop Singapore-based agri-food tech startups 1. Openspace Ventures is one of the co-investors selected based on its investment track record, strong commercialization resources, networks and familiarity with the agri-food tech startup ecosystem.
The new industrial-scale facility will incorporate Nutrition Technologies’ proprietary insect-rearing production system to manufacture Hi.Protein® insect meal, its flagship product, as an economical and scalable alternative to competing fishmeal products on the market. Nutrition Technologies will also dedicate a significant portion of the funds to continue its cutting-edge black soldier fly genetics and biology research. “The key to being successful in this sector is being able to produce a consistently high-quality product at an affordable price for feed manufacturers without charging a sustainability premium,” said Nick Piggott, Co-Founder and CEO of Nutrition Technologies. “We have achieved this by developing a unique combination of bio-processing steps, which enables us to optimize the nutrient uptake in our insect larvae. Coupled with the low operating costs in Southeast Asia, and the ideal tropical rearing conditions, we’re in a very strong position.”
“Nutrition Technologies is injecting innovation into an industry that has been around for over 12,000 years. Asia is the breadbasket of the world; over 89% of aquaculture, along with the farming of 33% of chickens and 65% of pigs happen here. We feel that Nutrition Technologies has the perfect combination of climate, technology and partners to fulfil its mission,” said Hian Goh, Partner at Openspace Ventures. “This is also a part of our "OPENHAND" initiative to follow United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment where we leverage environmental, social and governance factors in the agri-food tech space to transform how we feed the world.”
Ted Tan, Chairman of SEEDS Capital and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Singapore said that “SEEDS Capital is happy to partner with Openspace Ventures in growing a pipeline of innovative agri-food tech startups such as Nutrition Technologies. By innovating the way feed is produced here in Singapore, we are able to enhance food sustainability and safety in the agri-food chain. Such innovative food solutions have high market potential both domestically and across the Asian region. We hope to catalyze more investments in this area as we develop Singapore into a leading urban agriculture and aquaculture hub in Asia.”
Moving forward, SEEDS Capital and Enterprise Singapore will continue to work with Nutrition Technologies to connect with industry partners in aquaculture and alternative protein innovation. This will help to further anchor their key activities in Singapore, as well as to support the company’s plans to expand its manufacturing operations to Southeast Asia over the next 2 to 3 years.
