April Newsletter: What happens when you bring 8 agrifoodtech founders from the UK to Asia? ??

Our April updates?

We're always grateful that our online accelerator programmes allow us to work closely with entrepreneurs from around the world. But nothing competes with the energy of meeting our cohorts in person.

Last week we were delighted to welcome back the founders who participated in Cohort 2 of Innovate UK 's Global Incubator Programme: Gateway to Asia. This programme, delivered by GROW , is part of our efforts to help founders internationalise and encourage tech adoption in Asia via our?Land x Launch?platform . The founders came to Singapore for their second in-market visit, along with with our wonderful partners? Innovate UK and Innovate UK North ( Ian Holmes and Jens B?hm ).

We've been working closely with these innovators to scale into Asia, as we believe their technologies address some of Asia's biggest agrifood challenges and opportunities. Their trip here, which marked the completion of the 6-month programme, was an opportunity for them to execute on their strategies,?and a chance to introduce them to our networks on the ground who can help them boost their impact here in the region.

The week culminated in an exclusive Showcase where they presented their solutions and their next steps (and needs) for launching their businesses into Asia. We would like to thank our Guest of Honour, Her Excellency Kara Owen , British High Commissioner to Singapore, for coming to personally meet the teams and for opening the showcase with her insightful keynote address.

We are so proud of what these teams have achieved over the course of the programme and we can't wait to see them continue to go from strength to strength.

If you haven't gotten the chance to meet them yet and want to be part of their journey too, read on for more details.?

Warm regards,

The?GROW?Team???

Join us for our digital Showcase!??

Premiering online on 16 May, 5pm Singapore time

We've prepared a special online viewing of our Showcase event for our regional and international audiences who couldn't attend in-person. Get your tickets !

From breakthrough green technologies for rice harvesting and precision agriculture, to circular economy solutions repurposing fish waste, to biotechnology solutions enabling cultured meat production, meet these 8 agrifoodtech founders who are offering innovations to address some of Asia's biggest agrifood challenges and opportunities:

1. Mohammad Khalil El Hajj, PhD , Bright Biotech ?-??High-yield protein expression technology that uses chloroplasts to make proteins
2. Charles Veys , FOTENIX ?-?3D multispectral crop analysis tools for precision agriculture
3. Artun Sukan , Uncommon ?- Cultivated meat products, including the world's first cultivated pork belly and bacon
4. Caroline Craggs , Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) ?-?Agricultural technology designed to create optimal conditions for vertical farming
5. Idriss Elkettani , Impact Solutions ?-?Upcycling fish waste into lubricant and precursor material for nylon production
6. Alec Anderson , Koolmill Systems Limited ?-?Simplified, high-performance and ultra-low-power rice milling machinery
7. Craig Jamieson , STRAW INNOVATIONS LTD ?-?Upcycling leftover rice straw into food, fuel, and soil conditioner
8. Monika Tomecka, PhD , uFraction8 -?Efficient and scalable microfluidics-based filter systems to help bio-manufacturers harvest their products

Get your tickets here:

AgFunder Global Agrifoodtech Investment Report 2023

Funding to agrifoodtech startups reached $29.6 billion in 2022, down 44% year-over-year (YoY), according to a new report from food, agriculture and climate venture capital firm AgFunder , in partnership with its global ecosystem partner, Singapore investment firm Temasek and partners Foodbytes by Rabobank and AgriFutures Australia . Read more about it in the full report: https://bit.ly/AGFGLOBALMR

GROW community updates

Our portfolio companies and alumni are GROWing to new heights!

• Agri-genomics for strawberries : Singrow Pte Ltd plots expansion to Malaysia, Thailand ( AFN )
• Funding for aquaculture tech - Tepbac raises $2.25m pre-Series A ( AFN )
• Plant-based in South Korea - Green Rebel Foods launches in South Korea ( EconoTimes )

???Want to stay updated?on GROW's portfolio companies and alumni??Connect with us on?LinkedIn ?or follow our?News page !

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This is our fourth monthly newsletter on LinkedIn (you can also subscribe to the email version of our newsletter through our?website ). We're excited to connect and engage with our GROWing agrifoodtech innovation community here!

Have a question, comment, or an interesting story? We'd love to hear from you.

• Startups:?check out our accelerator programmes or?connect ?with our Programmes team
• Investors: interested in transforming the future of food & ag??Join ?our Investor network
• Corporates: keen to run a corporate challenge and harness innovation for your business? We'd love to?hear from you!
• Or simply get in touch with us [email protected]