Over S$100m in extra funding for agriculture, maritime startups

Singapore

STARTUPS in agriculture and maritime industries now have more than S$100 million in additional funding to tap on, with Enterprise Singapore (ESG) announcing new allocation to both sectors on Friday.

ESG said it has set aside over S$55 million to accelerate the growth of promising local agriculture and aquaculture companies, while its investment arm SEEDS Capital, together with six co-investment partners, will pump a combined S$50 million into more than 50 maritime technology startups in Singapore.

The funding for the former is part of the government agency's efforts to develop an agri-food tech ecosystem that uses innovation and scalable solutions to meet evolving needs, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon said at a ministerial visit to precision agritech startup Singrow on Friday.

Growing more with less refers to using modern technologies that enable food producers to develop climate-resilient, resource-efficient and high-yield farming solutions for densely built-up environments.

ESG has been supporting local food producers in the development and adoption of these technologies by launching initiatives to support the growth of the agri-food tech startup ecosystem and drive deep tech commercialisation, it said.

It added that the agri-food sector "remains a bright spot amid Covid-19", with Singapore's strong innovation climate and supporting infrastructure making the Republic a conducive place for agri-food technologies to take root.

ESG's six accelerators under the Startup SG Accelerator programme are expected to groom over 150 agri-food tech startups over the next three years, the agency said.

The accelerators - Big Idea Ventures, GROW, Hatch Blue, The Yield Lab, Trendlines Agrifood Innovation Centre and Temasek Life Sciences Accelerator - nurture and mentor startups in fundraising, product development, commercialisation and internationalisation.

In January 2019, SEEDS Capital appointed seven co-investment partners to catalyse over S$90 million worth of investments into early-stage agri-food tech startups (see amendment note 1).

ESG deputy chief executive Ted Tan said the additional funding would boost national food resilience and strengthen agriculture and aquaculture companies' global competitiveness as they build their capabilities and scale up (see amendment note 2).

As for the maritime sector, the co-investment partners for the funding programme are: Innoport, the corporate venture arm of family-owned ship owner and manager Schulte Group; KSL Maritime Ventures, the venture capital (VC) unit of the Kuok family's investment-holding company Kuok (Singapore) Limited; PSA unboXed, the external innovation and VC arm of port operator PSA International; corporate innovation and venture development firm Rainmaking; ShipsFocus-Quest Ventures, a collaboration between maritime innovation firm ShipsFocus and VC firm Quest Ventures; and TecPier, a VC investor in early-stage maritime and supply chain startups.

The co-investment initiative is supported by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. SEEDS Capital and the appointed partners will invest in startups that develop solutions to improve operational efficiency and safety across the different segments of the maritime sector.

ESG said that strengthening the capability of the maritime sector will in turn enhance the resilience of key economic pillars such as the logistics, manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors, which are reliant on smooth and efficient global supply chain routes.

Each co-investment partner will help the startups to fast-track their commercialisation of solutions. Innoport will allow startups to conduct pilot tests within Schulte Group's business units, while PSA unboXed will potentially deploy some solutions in PSA International's operations if proven successful.

KSL Martime Ventures will focus on renewables, fintech and vessel technologies, and ShipsFocus-Quest Ventures will focus broadly on solutions in digitalisation, sustainability and deep tech for maritime commerce.

TecPier will partner startups developing data-driven solutions for areas such as ship operations and maintenance, port management, and supply chain. Rainmaking will work with its corporate partners in the next two to three years to drive the growth of more than 100 startups, with solutions focusing on decarbonisation, supply chain resilience, artificial intelligence and deep tech.

Garage is BT's startup vertical. Read more news, analysis and opinions at bt.sg/garage.

Amendment note 1: A previous version of this story stated that SEEDS Capital appointed the seven co-investment partners in January 2020. It did so in January 2019.

Amendment note 2: A previous version of this story quoted Mr Tan as saying that the funding will strengthen the global competitiveness of agri-food tech startups. He in fact said it will boost the global competitiveness of agriculture and aquaculture companies.