November 16, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Global investment company Temasek announced the launch of the Asia Sustainable Foods Platform – a new vehicle focusing on addressing the challenges of scaling up production of alternative proteins, and accelerating the growth of sustainable foods in Asia. 

Together with the government Agency for Science, Technology, and Research’s (A*STAR’s) Singapore Institute of Food & Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), the platform will invest more than $30 million over the next three years in a Food Tech Innovation Center (FTIC) that was initially launched by Temasek last year.

“Temasek has invested over US$8 billion in the global farm-to-fork value chain since 2013, and will continue to increase our investments in this space,” said Yeoh Keat Chuan, deputy head, Enterprise Development Group at Temasek. “Singapore has a significant role to play in the transformation of the agri-food sector. The Asia Sustainable Foods Platform aims to support local and regional businesses, innovate, scale up and commercialize.”

This initiative will fulfill three roles:

~ As an enabler – the fund will provide R&D advisory and pilot-scale manufacturing facilities to support food tech businesses as they accelerate their product commercialization; 

~ As an operator – it will provide manufacturing capabilities and marketing insights into commercialization opportunities in support of scaling across Asia; and,

~ As an investor, the fund will provide businesses with a network of strategic relationships and will allocate capital to promising food tech startups.

Asian markets are admittedly complex, but also offer the greatest potential for opportunity and change in global food systems, according to a recent report issued by Green Queen Media that concluded that meat and seafood consumption in Asia will increase by 78 percent by 2050 due to population growth, with the region accounting for two-thirds of the world’s available seafood by that time. 

Changes in population density and standard of living across Asia will occur far more rapidly than one would think, according to the Brookings Institute. By 2030, Asia will account for 3 billion middle class people – 10 times greater than the middle class of North America, and five times greater than Europe. 

“Asia is expected to require around US$1.55 trillion of investment over the next decade to satisfy growing consumer demands for healthier and more sustainable food options,” said Yeoh Keat Chuan. “We need to evolve our current capabilities to bolster food security and strengthen supply chains.”

The Asia Sustainable Foods Platform will be managed by a core team of food tech professionals that will be led by newly appointed CEO Mathys Boeren.

Boeren brings a wealth of experience gathered throughout 25 years working in the food and food ingredients industry for some of the leading names in the space including Unilever, Givaudan, Symrise, and Kerry. More recently, he has advised sustainable food startups on the alignment of product attributes and consumer demands.

Boeren commented, “Our key differentiating factor is our end-to-end enabler, operator, and investor capabilities that provide bespoke solutions and support to aspiring food-tech companies at every stage of their growth cycle.”

“With our support to remove friction-to-adoption, companies can speed up their product development and pilot launch, as well as accelerate their commercial scale-up and go-to-market. In the end, it is our goal to delight consumers across Asia with tasty, fresh, traceable and sustainable food.”

The FTIC will act as a “one-stop shop” where food tech startups will have access to a food-grade pilot scale facility with extrusion and fermentation equipment, shared lab space, test kitchens, co-working spaces, and A*STAR’s deep well of R&D experience.

“SIFBI is excited to partner with Temasek’s newly established Asia Sustainable Foods Platform on the FTIC, which will provide much-needed pilot scale capabilities for Alternative Protein (AP) companies to shorten time to market. We expect that this partnership will help anchor AP companies, and to contribute significantly to the flourishing and vibrant food-tech landscape here in Singapore,” said Dr Hazel Khoo, executive director, SIFBI.

FTIC also announced its first partner – Next Gen Foods, which will be establishing its global R&D and innovation center at the site. (Next Gen Foods is a plant-based food pioneer and the name behind TiNDLE plant-based chicken – it is also a portfolio company of Bits x Bites – China’s first agrifood tech-focused VC fund.)

“At the core of Next Gen Foods is a dedication to creating plant-based foods that are not only sustainable – but also delicious, nutritious and scalable,” said Timo Recker, co-founder and executive chairman, Next Gen Foods. “We can only do this through a commitment to continuous product innovation and growth, and we’re thrilled to become the first company to put down roots in the brand-new FTIC. It is a significant milestone that reinforces our commitment to build a global impactful player based in Singapore, and we are grateful to our partners at A*STAR and Temasek’s Asia Sustainable Foods Platform for joining us on our mission to create a better food system for future generations to come.”

The Asia Sustainable Foods Platform is also currently pursuing two joint ventures with leaders in the plant-based and microbial proteins spheres.

The first, a joint venture company with CREMER, a German agri-food multinational with expertise in plant-based proteins that will augment the Platform’s manufacturing capabilities for plant-based protein products through leveraging high moisture extrusion (HME), a new technology for production texturized proteins that are more similar to meat – a capability that not many companies currently can claim, particularly in Asia. 

“For CREMER, the customer has always been the starting point of our decisions,” said Damian Krueger, general manager of sustainable nutrition, CREMER. “We are constantly improving and developing value-added services and products for our customers in tomorrow’s world. Recognising the growing importance of sustainability, health and plant-based foods in supporting the global food ecosystem, CREMER wants to play a major role in driving these trends by contributing production knowledge we have gained over decades. By bringing HME capabilities to Asia, CREMER aims to provide production support to the fast-growing plant-based community here.”

It is also hoped that a second agreement with ADM will lay the groundwork for another joint venture that enables contract development and manufacturing services for microbial proteins produced using fermentation.

We’ve talked to innovators, from startups to mature food providers, in Singapore and across APAC, and they have told us that they are eager and waiting for a partner that can provide support for food-grade precision fermentation technology,” said Joe Taets, president of ADM’s APAC business. “This first-of-its-kind joint venture in Singapore would meet that demand, and in doing so, will help further the development of the alternative protein industry in APAC.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.