These 5 Asian Startups Are Innovating Sustainability Solutions, From Repurposing Waste To Clean Meat

Southeast Asian agri-food tech accelerator GROW’s newly launched Singapore Food Bowl, an accelerator program focused on boosting Singapore’s food security in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, has just unveiled its participating startups. Among the 12 selected include entrepreneurs working on urban farming technologies to lab-grown protein and valorising food waste. Here, we take a look at 5 of the most exciting startups in Singapore Food Bowl’s latest cohort, hailing from Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

CocoPallet

Founding date: 2012 

Founder: Michiel Vos

Headquarters: Philippines & the Netherlands

Mission: CocoPallet has developed a low-cost and sustainable export pallet made using coconut husk waste, which makes them a 100% bio-based alternative to traditional timber pallets that contributes to deforestation of around 500,000 trees per year. The final product is fire retardant, sturdy, lightweight and can fully replicate the functionality of wooden pallets while providing extra income to local farmers in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries. 

Crust Group

Founding date: 2019

Founder: Travin S. 

Headquarters: Singapore

Mission: Crust Group tackles food waste by using surplus bread from hotels and restaurants that would otherwise be thrown out to brew co-branded craft beers and other beverages. Its company vision is to help reduce global food waste by 1% by 2030, and has since worked with multiple regional brewing brands to produce beers, such as Red Dot, the 1925 Brewing Co., and Wild Brew. 

ListenField

Founding date: 2017

Founders: Rassarin Chinnachodteeranun & Kiyoshi Honda

Headquarters: Thailand & Japan

Mission: ListenField combines crop and climate analytics with internet-of-things (IoT) integration to create FarmAI, an smart tool app that provides farmers with actionable data for decision-making at every stage of the growing process. Using satellite and drone imagery, for instance, farmers can monitor crop health and tree inventory more closely. Ultimately, the app helps farmers maximise sustainability and profitability. 

SingCell

Founding date: 2020

Founders: Karolis Rosickas, Colby J. Colasanto & Steve Oh

Headquarters: Singapore

Mission: SingCell is a provider of biotech development and manufacturing services for cultivated meat companies. In order to help cell-based food techs commercialise faster, they have come up with an automated scalable bioreactor system for the manufacturing of clean meat cells, which significantly reduces the cost of goods, increases cell count and viability.   

Smoocht

Founding date: 2019

Founders: Ong Khai Chien 

Headquarters: Singapore 

Mission: Smoocht is a plant-based dessert maker, the first in Asia to create artisanal vegan ice cream out of organic brown rice milk. All of its products are created from a base of crystal brown rice, with other natural plant-based ingredients such as fruit, pure nut butters and organic sugar cane juice. In addition to its famous “rice” cream, the startup also offers dairy-free lattes and cakes. 

Lead image designed by Green Queen Media, images as credited above.