Singapore-based Allozymes and Hong Kong-based Senior Deli announced as co-winners at Future Food Asia 2021

• Singapore-based Allozymes and Hong Kong-based Senior Deli were announced as co-winners at Future Food Asia 2021 and will receive US$ 100,000 each.
• Singapore-based A.I. food fingerprinting technology start-up ProfilePrint was awarded the Cargill Prize for Health Through Nutrition.
• Korea-based food upcycling start-up REharvest and US & China-based waste-to-packaging start-up Mi Terro were both awarded the Thai Wah Circular Bio-Economy Prize.

The Future Food Asia (FFA) conference was hosted from June 7-11, convening executives from leading corporations, emerging entrepreneurs, key investors, sector experts and many other agrifood industry stakeholders.

The conference this year carried the theme of ‘Agrifoodtech 2.0’, a celebratory sign as innovation in this space reaches a new stage of maturity. It was thus natural to join forces with industry leaders to award 5 outstanding startups.

The awards competition saw a 24 per cent increase in number of applicants this year, coming from 17 different countries. The 10 shortlisted start-up finalists pitched their innovations to a live global audience of over 550 industry stakeholders.

Cargill Prize for Health Through Nutrition awarded to ProfilePrint (Singapore)

With a wealth of innovations addressing critical aspects of how our food is produced, and notably new alternative protein propositions, more than ever nutrition needs to remain a compass to navigate strategic as well as personal decisions. Therefore, in line with its commitment to nourishing the world in a safe, sustainable and responsible way, FFA 2021 Title Partner Cargill has decided to award ProfilePrint its Prize for Health Through Nutrition. The prize will provide ProfilePrint the opportunity to deploy their patented A.I. food fingerprinting technology in one of Cargill’s key business units. The start-up will also get access to Cargill’s in-house experts who will help ProfilePrint on their journey of expansion into new products and markets.

ProfilePrint synthesizes complex sensory data into a single digital fingerprint which predicts the quality profile of a food sample within seconds. It combines metabolomics, artificial intelligence and sensor technologies and has commercialized the solution via a cloud-based platform with a portable analyser. The company is addressing the challenge of flavor assessment to help improve consistency across the food supply chain as it remains inaccurate, inefficient and costly.

“We were impressed by all the innovative solutions being built by the start-ups we interacted with as part of the competition. It is great to see so many dedicated entrepreneurs bringing to market solutions that help improve the overall wellbeing of our society. ProfilePrint’s technology enables us to optimize the nutritional value of our portfolio of ingredients without compromising on taste and quality. Both these metrics are key in ensuring consumer and customer acceptance. Cargill is keen to leverage ProfilePrint to take the connection between nutrition and health to the next level,” said Marcel Smits, Chairman of Cargill Asia Pacific and Global Head of Corporate Strategy.

Thai Wah Circular Bio-Economy Prize awarded to REharvest (South Korea) and Mi Terro (US and China)

Thai Wah recognises that the mission of ensuring our planet thrives for future generations can only be accomplished by bringing together like-minded partners to build a better future. Thai Wah decided to award two start-ups REharvest and Mi Terro the Circular Bio-Economy Prize. REharvest transforms by-products from beer and shikhye (traditional Korean drink) production into flour and other products with higher nutritional profile. Mi Terro repurposes plant-based agricultural waste to manufacture single-use plastic-alternative packaging materials.

REharvest and Mi Terro will receive full support for their application development at Thai Wah’s innovation lab as well as pilot trial implementation within the Thai Wah global ecosystem. They will also get assistance in executing their go-to-market strategy upon product validation. The prize demonstrates Thai Wah’s commitment and passion to create useful and high value future bioproducts from biomaterials with positive impact for Our Consumers, Our People, and Our Planet.

“We are really excited and honored, together with our partners Future Food Asia, to award this inaugural prize to REharvest and Mi Terro. During the course of the selection process we managed to spend time with these entrepreneurs and are inspired by their creativity, innovation, and dedication. Agriculture and food innovation is a continuous journey and we are thrilled to partner them in their next lap going forward,” said Ho Ren Hua, CEO of Thai Wah Public Company Limited.

Allozymes (Singapore) and Senior Deli (Hong Kong SAR, China) were announced as co-winners of the Future Food Asia Award

As for the selection of the winner for the Future Food Asia Award, the assessment was carried out by the jury made up of: Dr. Ralph Graichen, Senior Director of Food & Consumer Cluster at Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*STAR) Biomedical Research Council; Xiuling Guo, Managing Director, Cargill Global Edible Oil Solutions, Asia; Francesca Kleemans, Managing Director, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, Asia; and Isabelle Decitre, Founder and CEO of ID Capital.

With a focus on disruptive solutions to overcome the hurdles on the path to a more sustainable food future in Asia Pacific, the jury named Allozymes and Senior Deli as co-winners of the 2021 Future Food Asia Award. Allozymes applies its proprietary microfluidics technology to develop custom-designed enzymes for cleaner and sustainable manufacturing of complex natural products. Senior Deli has developed proprietary food engineering technologies to produce leading products including thickener, food softener, food gellant & pre-packed soft meals for the elderly and those who have dysphagia.

Allozymes and Senior Deli will receive US$100,000 each as part of the Future Food Asia Award. This was the first instance of an announcement of co-winners at Future Food Asia, a testament to the quality of the start-up finalists and overall maturity of the agrifoodtech sector.

“The Allozymes team is thrilled to be a joint-winner of the Future Food Asia Award and for our enzyme engineering platform to be recognised as a powerful technology for delivering sustainably produced natural ingredients at scale,” said Peyman Salehian, PhD, CEO of Allozymes.

“The Senior Deli team is elated to be a joint-winner of Future Food Asia 2021 Award. We will continue in our endeavour of developing the best products for the elderly and those in need, at an affordable price for carers and institutions,” said Raymond Chau co-founder & CEO of Senior Deli.

“This exceptional cohort is a tribute to entrepreneurial ingenuity. My jury fellows and I chose to reward two very different startups, a sign that agrifoodtech has matured into a rich and diverse sector. Allozymes has developed a powerful enabling technology platform that can serve a range of industries, evidencing the convergence between foodtech and other fields of science. It’s a real booster for the entire synthetic biology sector and a significant contribution to a more circular economy. Senior Deli is here to remind us that healthy ageing starts with healthy eating, which a growing part of the elderly population struggles with. Thanks to their proprietary suite of technologies combined with impeccable execution skills they are primed to make a difference in that space. We are delighted to welcome both teams to the FFA family,” said Isabelle Decitre, Founder and CEO of ID Capital.

Future Food Asia 2021 has been made possible by the continued support from our partners: Cargill, one of the world’s largest agricultural commodity traders and food processors; Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore’s lead public research agency; Thai Wah, the regional leader in plant based food products, a pioneer in Thailand for starch, vermicelli and noodles; Dole Sunshine Company, one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality packaged and fresh fruit; HaoShi Foundation, a non-profit organization, which focus on fostering agrifood start-ups growth through innovative approaches with international perspective; Bühler Group, the leading global technology supplier to the food processing industry; and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the lead government agency responsible for strategies that enhance Singapore’s position as a global centre for business, innovation and talent.

More details on the conference are available at https://futurefoodasia.com/ffa2021/. 

Overview of the start-up winners

Allozymes (Singapore)

Allozymes applies its proprietary microfluidics technology to develop custom-designed enzymes for cleaner and sustainable manufacturing of complex natural products. Allozymes’ interdisciplinary innovation enables 10x faster enzyme engineering with 200X higher chance of success compared to the robotics which enables breakthrough development in a wide range of industries.

Senior Deli (Hong Kong SAR, China)

With the mission to provide quality care and promote healthy lifestyles for the elderly, Senior Deli specializes in various aspects of holistic healthcare, including food engineering, biotechnology & product development. Our proprietary technologies have obtained utility patents, and our leading R&D products include thickener, food softener, food gellant & pre-packed soft meals for people who have dysphagia (swallowing difficulties).

ProfilePrint (Singapore)

Founded in 2017, ProfilePrint is an agri-food tech start-up funded by international venture funds, the Singapore government as well as strategic investors. ProfilePrint is the world’s first to have developed and patented an A.I. food fingerprint technology, empowering users to rapidly search and ascertain taste profile, quality as well as other characteristics of food ingredient online.

REharvest (South Korea)

REharvest Co., LTD. is Korea’s first food-upcycling company that repurposes by-products from beer and shikhye (traditional Korean drink), amongst others. These by-products are transformed into flour, pasta, pizza dough, granola bars, cereals and puffs with a higher nutritional profile than existing products on the market through the use of Re:Harvest’s unique patent pending technology.

Mi Terro (US and China)

Mi Terro is the world’s first advanced material company that partners with food companies and farmers to create home compostable, single-use plastic-alternative packaging materials made from plant-based agricultural waste – this is a first-of-its-kind approach. We are not turning agricultural waste into beverage or snack like other companies. Instead, we are giving plant-based agricultural waste a new life by repurposing it to replace single-use plastic and paper-based materials and giving additional incomes to farmers all around the world.

About ID Capital

ID Capital is an investment company headquartered in Singapore specialized in the domain of AgriTech and FoodTech in the Asia-Pacific region. ID Capital is a pioneer in the agrifood sector in Asia-Pacific and has contributed effort and capital in also catalyzing the ecosystem in the region through its Future Food Asia platform launched in 2016. Its thesis is built on the fact that in this growing vertical, Asia-Pacific is the nexus between high growth and high stakes. ID Capital is also an Appointed Partner for start-up SG Equity for the AgriFoodTech sector.

For further enquiries please write to ffaa@idcapital.com.sg

About Cargill

Cargill’s 155,000 employees across 70 countries work relentlessly to achieve our purpose of nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Every day, we connect farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people and animals with the food they need to thrive. We combine 155 years of experience with new technologies and insights to serve as a trusted partner for food, agriculture, financial and industrial customers in more than 125 countries. Side-by-side, we are building a stronger, sustainable future for agriculture.

About the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is Singapore’s lead public sector R&D agency. Through open innovation, we collaborate with our partners in both the public and private sectors to benefit the economy and society. As a Science and Technology Organisation, A*STAR bridges the gap between academia and industry. Our research creates economic growth and jobs for Singapore, and enhances lives by improving societal outcomes in healthcare, urban living, and sustainability. A*STAR plays a key role in nurturing scientific talent and leaders for the wider research community and industry. A*STAR’s R&D activities span biomedical sciences to physical sciences and engineering, with research entities primarily located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis. For ongoing news, visit www.a-star.edu.sg.

About Thai Wah

Driven by our core purpose to build better lives for the global consumers, we relentlessly seek to create innovation and sustainability from Farm to Shelf better every day. With a global reach to over 25 countries around the world, building a positive impact for stakeholder communities across all aspects of our value chain from farm, sourcing, manufacturing, supply chain and delivery is our priority. Our initiatives include community model organic farming projects to promote sustainable farming practices, usage of clean and renewable energy at our factories, and ensuring highest standards of food safety, quality and environment and health standards for our customers. As agriculture and food is SEA’s most important exports and key to sustainable economic development, we are committed to creating shared value every step of the way and we will always strive to do better and do more. More information at www.thaiwah.com