US-Singapore food tech fund to target Asia

Tyson Foods is the anchor LP, with additional support coming from Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and Buhler, a Swiss food processing machinery supplier that plans to open a plant-based food R&D facility in Singapore later this year. 

“Together we can support the growth of the new generation of leading plant-based companies in North America, Asia and ultimately, the planet,” Andrew Ive, founder of Big Idea, said in a statement. “Buhler and Big Idea Ventures will work together to build great companies responding to consumer demands for great-tasting food that is good for them and good for the planet.”

The New Protein Fund will invest in and accelerate up to 100 plant-based and cell-based companies. Investees will be developed by Big Idea’s accelerator programs in Singapore and New York each of which host two cohorts a year. Start-ups in the programs receive $125,000 in cash plus $75,000 worth of in-kind services. Top performers may receive up to $3 million follow-on investment.

Big Idea plans to raise a later-stage growth fund called Generation Food that will focus on companies involved in areas such as supply chain, CO2 footprint, waste, water, and packaging. The Singapore team will be headed by Christian Cadeo, who has Asia-based experience with food tech unicorns Just, Beyond Meat, and Impossible Foods. It will have access to the Buhler R&D facility.

Big Idea’s first investment was Singapore-based Shiok Meats, a cell-based seafood producer that positions itself as the first clean meat company in Asia. Shiok has raised about $5 million in funding to date from a number of US-based VC investors, including Y Combinator. Last week, Big Idea joined Shiok founder Sandhya Sriram and specialist investor Veginvest in a pre-seed round for Indian plant-based eggs start-up Evo Foods. 

Singapore is emerging as a food tech hub. Previous activity in the city-state includes VisVires Protein launching a $150 million fund focused on the segment that backed local modified sugar developer Nutrition Innovation. Earlier this year, Singapore’s TurtleTree Labs, which creates milk from cells with no animal needed, raised an early-stage round from a group of investors including KBW Ventures. Saudi investor and KBW founder Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed is an advisor to Big Idea.

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• Topics
• North America
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Cleantech
• Consumer
• USA
• Singapore
• Temasek Holdings
• seed