Can Tech Give the World a Byte to Eat?
Can Tech Give the World a Byte to Eat?
Twenty agritech startups. Five winning pitches. One challenge: to reduce food loss on a global scale.
Across LEVEL3, a vibrant coworking and events space tucked away in southern Singapore, entrepreneurs of all ages from across the world exchanged business cards, pored over pitch decks, and shared their business plans with industry experts.
It was Pitch Day last October for 20 agritech startups, who were selected to participate in the inaugural Food Loss Challenge Asia — an open-innovation competition organised by financial services company Rabobank and supported by Rabobank Foundation.
Investment professionals from Temasek and senior leaders from various food and agriculture businesses were invited to provide mentorship and strategic counsel to the entrepreneurs, who presented their food loss solutions to a panel of judges.
The stakes? Only five teams would make it through to Food Loss Challenge Asia’s finale, with a chance of winning up to US$15,000 to scale up their businesses. These teams also stood the opportunity to pitch to C-suite executives from over 20 of the region’s largest corporate food and agribusiness clients at Rabobank’s annual closed-door Food and Agribusiness Advisory Board meeting.
Food Loss in a Hungry World
Based on estimates from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than one third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted each year. Yet, at the same time, 821 million people face food shortages and are undernourished.
This global problem was the impetus for Rabobank’s Food Loss Challenge Asia.
Kicking off Pitch Day, the scene was set for an intense battle. Each agritech startup would be given just five minutes to present their ideas for reducing food loss, and answer questions posed by a panel of industry experts.
I would like to see startups reimagining the way food is produced and consumed, looking at problems we have ignored or left to governments to solve,
said Temasek’s Managing Director of Agribusiness Anuj Maheshwari, one of the six judges on the panel.
“For me, what is most important is how a company’s product and business model integrate with the value chain and offer benefits to all parts of it — from the farmers and producers to the consumers.”
One by one, startups took to the stage presenting a range of innovative solutions to tackle chronic problems in the food system. The problems addressed ranged from poor harvesting practices, to food contamination brought on by improper packaging and a lack of quality control.
India-based startup Ecozen Solutions, for example, presented a novel storage method that would enable India’s smallholder farmers — small-scale farmers who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods — to preserve and transport perishables along the value chain in an affordable and sustainable manner. Their solution in a nutshell: portable cold rooms powered by renewable energy.
“Food production has increased among farmers in India, yet their net revenue has not increased proportionately,” declared Prateek Singhal, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer for Ecozen Solutions. “The reason for that is they are growing vegetables that are perishing in a day or two.”
With Ecozen’s solar-powered cold rooms, farmers could grow perishables such as fruits, vegetables and flowers at optimal temperatures on the farm, and continue preserving them post harvest. Mr Singhal added that the cold rooms could also run on thermal energy, providing backup power that could last for over 30 hours on days when there is insufficient sunlight.
The solutions presented by the startups were not solely confined within the agriculture industry. Singapore-based startup Eachmile Technologies also introduced a unique solution to make the seafood industry more sustainable.
“Seafood consumption has risen by 90 percent over the past 50 years. Yet, 50 percent of fish is discarded, lost or wasted in the supply chain post harvest,” said Alistair Douglas, Founder of Eachmile Technologies, to the judges. “This comes at a significant environmental and social cost, and we’re paying for this at cash registers.”
A lack of transparency in the seafood supply chain is one of the biggest factors for seafood waste, said Mr Douglas.
To address this, Eachmile Technologies designed a blockchain-based mobile platform that allows fishermen and farmers to log their harvest, be rewarded for sharing data and access important information such as weather conditions and best practices to improve management — all geared towards improving their livelihoods and promoting sustainability.
The Role of Mentorship in Reducing Food Loss
Alongside an attentive judging panel, a separate closed audience consisting of subject matter experts, seasoned investors and mentors watched on as the startups took to the stage one after the other.
We were invited to offer these startups advice on refining their business models and go-to-market approaches, and guide them in thinking about their growth plans,
said Ryan Rakestraw,
Associate Director of Investment at Temasek, who focuses on agriculture and agritech venture capital investments.
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Mr Rakestraw mentored three startups in the competition: Eachmile Technologies, Ecozen Solutions and AgUnity, a blockchain-based agritech startup that aims to build trust between farmers and co-operatives and increase their access to shared agricultural resources.
Food Loss Challenge Asia’s Top Five Finalists
Five hours and 20 pitches later, Albert Boogaard, Head of Innovation at Rabobank Foundation, declared the five finalists: CropIn Technology Solutions, Eachmile Technologies, Ecozen Solutions, Elixia Tech Solutions and Pula Advisors.
Cheers erupted in some quarters of the room, while disappointment was evident on the faces of others whose names had not been announced.
“The decision was not an easy one. Each of these startups presented diverse solutions, demonstrating a strong understanding of their target markets and adoption of technology to address food loss in a very innovative way,” said Mr Boogaard, who was also a judge on the panel.
Post-Pitch: What Happened at the Finale
The five finalists went on to attend the Food Loss Challenge Asia finale close to three weeks later, where they presented compelling solutions to reduce food loss to decision makers of leading food and agribusiness companies at Rabobank Asia’s Food & Agribusiness Advisory Board meeting.
After a tense head-to-head battle, Ecozen Solutions and its solar-powered cold rooms emerged victorious — clinching both the Jury’s Prize of US$15,000 and US$5,000 as the Audience Favourite.
“Ecozen Solutions has been in the market for a few years now; they know what works and scales in the markets they operate in,” Mr Rakestraw commented.
At Temasek, we look at hundreds of opportunities in food and agriculture every year and get exposed to many different ideas. So, what [we] managed to offer them was advice on refining their business model, approaching their expansion plans and conveying their mission to the judges succinctly and credibly.
Mr Rakestraw
Food Loss Challenge Asia is an open innovation competition organised by Rabobank and Rabobank Foundation, in partnership with Temasek and food and agriculture businesses Archer Daniels Midland Company, Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL, Olam International and UPL.