September Introductory Webinars for Pitch Event in November

Asia Biobusiness in collaboration with the Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) in Singapore is organising a two-part webinar series that will detail the Agrifood Innovation landscape in Singapore. The webinars will be followed in November by an opportunity for Canadian early stage companies to pitch to a Singapore audience. The first webinar to be held on September 20th, Canada, 9pm ET; 9am September 21st, Singapore is entitled, “Understanding the investment, regulatory and R&D environment in Singapore”. The second webinar entitled “Opportunities in Alternative Proteins, Cellular and Fermented Foods, Waste Valorization and Novel Ingredients in Singapore” will be held on September 22nd, 9pm ET, Canada, 9am September 23rd, Singapore.

The information provided in these webinars will help attendees broaden their understanding of the agrifood ecosystem and market opportunities for growth in Singapore. Canadian early stage companies are invited to apply to pitch to a Singapore audience on Wednesday, Nov. 24th at 8:00pm ET, 9am November 25th, Singapore.

Register to attend

Please register via the links below:

The webinars will begin at 9:00 PM EDT, 9:00 AM Singapore (duration 90 min). The sessions will be moderated by Dr Andrew Powell, CEO, Asia BioBusiness Pte. Ltd. Singapore.

Pitch Event

More details here (English) and here (Français)

Please apply through the link below. We anticipate having 4-5 companies make a pitch at this event. Applicants will be screened in October and supported by mentors to create a presentation relevant for the Singapore audience. Mentors will be matched with the selected companies.

Webinar Details

Webinar 1 September 20th, 9pm EST, September 21st, 9am SGT

The first session will feature 4 speakers from varying perspectives covering:

public infrastructure and support
the innovation and investment appetite for Agrifood technologies
shifting regulatory environment
consumer safety and adoption

Speakers will be:

Dr Ralph Graichen – Research and Development Support for Ec system Development

Ralph is the Senior Director, Food & Consumer at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. Ralph leads a team to develop A*STAR’s strategy in food & nutrition, consumer care as well as human potential. He is responsible for driving activities across the public and private sector in Singapore, supporting economic activities, research funding and strategic national and international relations. He has a co-appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor with Nanyang Technological University, School of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering. In his current position with A*STAR, Ralph works with strategic partners to administer and develop new initiatives and programmes in the research areas of food, nutrition and consumer care. Ralph is a board member of the Singapore Food Agency as well as a member of the Singapore Food Standard Committee.
Ralph has over 16 years of experience in the local and global biomedical and nutrition industry. He was previously Research Operations Manager for Abbott Nutrition in Asia, establishing the R&D infrastructure and managing the research portfolio for Asia.
Ralph graduated with a master in Biology from the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany and attained his PhD from the National University Singapore through the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology.

Assoc. Professor Benjamin Smith – Food Safety Regulatory Environment in Singapore

Ben is the Director of the Future Ready Food Safety Hub (a joint initiative between A*STAR, SFA and NTU) under Singapore’s National Food Story R&D agenda. Trained as a risk assessor and toxicologist, he has worked across industry, academia and government and is a strong proponent of collaborative research and the importance of embedding safety across the entire food chain. His work has seen him involved in the development of 2 ecosystem wide platforms aimed at bringing together Singapore’s governmental agencies, the Institutes of Higher Learnings and industry partners to support Singapore’s growing food and consumer product industries. His current research interests extend across a range of different areas including gastrointestinal toxicology, dietary intake, risk-benefit frameworks and the integration of human relevant and socially responsible safety methodologies into the regulatory approval processes for new ingredients and novel foods

Mr Christian Cadeo – The Investment Environment and Accelerator Support

Christian is currently the Managing Partner, Asia for Big Idea Ventures, an alternative protein venture capital fund/accelerator based in New York and Singapore. It is anchored by investments from Temasek Holdings and Tyson Food and is a major investor in a number of Singapore alt protein/waste valorisation start-ups.

Christian has considerable experience in bringing US based startups to Asia. His first startup was at AdMob which was eventually acquired by Google. The second startup was JUST, whose investors include Founders Fund, Horizon Ventures and Eduardo Saverin. There, he was the 1st employee in Asia-Pacific. Recently he was at Domo where he joined pre-IPO as the 1st employee in Southeast Asia. Domo investors include Benchmark, Jeff Bezo and TPG. The company IPOed on NASDAQ in 2018. He has also worked at Google and Microsoft in Asia.

Professor Christiani Jeyakumar Henry – The Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation and Research into Nutrition of Future Foods

Jeya is Senior Advisor, Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation and also the Director, Clinical Nutrition Research Centre (CNRC), Singapore. Jeya initially trained as a Food scientist and subsequently obtained his MSc and PhD in Nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was instrumental in the development & launch of the UK’s first dedicated Functional Food Centre. He was Head of Food Sciences and Nutrition at Oxford Brookes University, and Director of the Functional Food Centre in Oxford. He has served on several committees including the UK Committee on Medical Aspects of Food & Nutrition Policy (COMA) panel on novel foods, was a board member of the UK Food Standards Agency and was a member of the General Advisory Committee on Science (GACS) of the Food Standard Agency (FSA). He also served as a panel member on the Department for International Development (DFID) health & population research committee, and was a member of the research panel of the UK Crop post harvest Technology. He was Royal Society visiting professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong & continues as a visiting professor at the same university.

Webinar 2

September 22nd, 9pm EST, September 23rd, 9am SGT

In the second session the 4 speakers speakers will focus on:

Key technology areas: alternative proteins, cellular agriculture, fermented foods, waste valorization and novel ingredients
Share information on trends, market needs and commercial and collaboration opportunities Canadian companies can leverage in Singapore.

Mr Ricky Lin, Life3 Biotech

Ricky Lin is the founder of Life3 Biotech, a start-up company focusing on innovative functional foods and beverages through the use of natural plant-based ingredients; to address health concerns such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and osteoporosis attributed to poor nutrition and lifestyle habits. Life3’s work on plant-based protein as an alternative to meat, bagged two out of five awards in the Singapore Food Innovation Product Award 2016 and 2018. Their work has also been exclusively featured by the various media platform such as TechInnovation Singapore, Channel News Asia, Today, Asia Pacific Food Industry, The Edge Singapore as well as The South China Morning Post.

Prior to Life3, Ricky was a staff officer with the Singapore Armed Forces; he led the working group in HQ Supply for the essential ration supplies and nutritional support to optimise the soldiers’ performance in local and overseas environment. He subsequently worked at Hendon Energy’s international trading desk, covering the physical and OTC commodities market.

Mr Eugene Wang, Sophie’s BioNutritients

Eugene grew up immersed in the vegetarian food business. Since 2010, his vision for launching Sophie’s Kitchen, the first Plant-Based Seafood Alternative, has manifested into a viable innovation. Sophie’s Kitchen had won numerous recognitions from companies like PepsiCo and Chipotle.

In 2019, Eugene took the alternative protein to the microorganism level and started another venture – Sophie’s BioNutrients Singapore. One approach is to utilise local waste streams as feedstocks to produce the protein for his clients. Eugene won Singapore$1 million at The Liveability Challenge, 2019 with this project and started a new protein fermentation facility in Singapore.

Ms Betty Lu, Confetti Fine Foods

Betty is the founder and CEO of venture backed Confetti Fine Foods based in Singapore and NYC. Confetti crafts award-winning tasty gourmet snacks made from nutrient dense vegetables in exotic flavors inspired by Southeast Asia. The scrumptious plant-based snacks are up-cycled from ugly produce – “wonky vegetables”, and are an excellent source of minerals and fiber. Betty is currently expanding into N. America with her hyper-local approach to production.

A portion of proceeds go to global efforts for the environment and to end hunger. Betty is a branding expert with a global strategic outlook. She is an avid scuba diver, paraglider and world traveler.

Mr Yip Hon Mun, TurtleTree

HonMun is currently the Executive Vice President of TurtleTree Lab. Prior to this, he held C-level positions at listed companies in Korea, Thailand, and a Government-to-Government JV in China. He started his career in the tech sector with Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola and branched out into business, operations, and investment with the Temasek Holdings portfolio of companies.

Hon Mun brings 3 decades of experience in running multinationals and managing family-owned companies in the Alternative Protein, Bio-Tech, Telecom and Food Tech space. Half of those experience are devoted to working with Temasek Holdings portfolio of companies in Merger & Acquisition Integration.

Hon Mun is involved in several investment Alternative Protein and Clean Tech funds including: Big Ideas Venture, SOSV/China Accelerator Fund, Unreasonable Group and Good Protein Fund. His personal investment focuses on early and late-stage startups in the sustainability, environmental and food security space.

Why your organization should participate:

Develop a first-hand understanding of the opportunities and challenges of doing business in foreign markets
Gain insights and market intelligence

Webinars/Pitch Event – Singapore/Canada Agrifood Innovation.