Temasek's Asia Sustainable Foods Platform and A*Star institute to commit S$30m to accelerate food startups

A new sustainable foods company launched by Temasek Holdings will, together with an A*Star research institute, commit over S$30 million over 3 years in an initiative to help nurture promising food startups.

The sovereign wealth fund on Monday (Nov 15) announced the launch of the Asia Sustainable Foods Platform, its wholly-owned company focused on providing support to aspiring food-tech companies "at every stage of their growth cycle", according to a Temasek statement.

The platform acts as an enabler, operator and investor, helping to provide research and development (R&D) advisory, manufacturing capabilities and a network of strategic connections, Temasek added.

It will be managed by a core team of food-tech professionals, led by chief executive Mathys Boeren, who has been in the food and food-ingredients industry for more than 25 years.

Together with the Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI), the two parties have committed to invest over S$30 million in the Food Tech Innovation Centre (FTIC) over the next 3 years to provide tailored infrastructure and service offerings to promising food-tech startups.

SIFBI is a research institute under the government's R&D arm, the Agency for Science, Technology and Resarch (A*Star).

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Hazel Khoo, SIFBI executive director, said the partnership "will provide "much needed pilot scale capabilities for alternative protein companies to shorten time to market".

According to Temasek, FTIC will be a "one-stop shop" where aspiring food-tech start-ups will have access to a food grade pilot scale facility with extrusion and fermentation equipment, shared labs, test kitchens, co-working spaces, as well as A*star's deep R&D know-how.

Meanwhile, FTIC said its first partner, Next Gen Foods, known for its plant-based chicken Tindle, will be setting up its global R&D and innovation centre within FTIC.

Said Timo Recker, Next Gen Foods co-founder and executive chairman: "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."

The Asia Sustainable Foods Platform is also exploring two joint ventures (JV) with global industry experts in plant-based and microbial proteins, Temasek said.

The platform signed an agreement with American food processing company ADM to pave the way to form a JV that would enable contract development and manufacturing services for microbial proteins produced via precision fermentation.

Joe Taets, president of ADM's Asia-Pacific business, said: "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."

The project, supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), could address the needs of innovators, allowing them to serve global customers from Singapore while helping to strengthen the country's agri-food ecosystem, said EDB executive vice president Damian Chan.

At the same time, a potential partnership with German agri-food company Cremer would augment the platform's manufacturing capabilities for plant-based protein products, said Temasek, adding that the platform's investment in the JV is subject to regulatory approval.

"Key to this process is high moisture extrusion (HME), a new technology for producing texturised proteins that more closely resemble meat than other plantbased manufacturing techniques," Temasek said.

Given the nascent technology, Cremer's expertise would provide essential support for businesses in this area, particularly as few companies in Asia have mature HME capabilities and capacity, it added.