The business of farming has attracted a growing number of start-ups trying their hand in the agri-food industry. Many of them are backed by investors, as the underlying theme of meeting consumption demand becomes a sound business case.
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Some of these start-ups focus on growing crops more efficiently, but others are staking out what they believe are key pieces of the value chain. For example, cafes and restaurants that highlight fresh produce often wax lyrical about the “farm to table” concept, but the mantra trivialises the complex supply chain of vegetables.
What is left out from the catchy phrase — hidden within the inconspicuous “to” — are multiple levels of middlemen; ranging from exporters to importers, wholesalers and even packaging companies.
With each level of middlemen, however, the final sticker price of the produce rises.
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Glife Technologies was founded to bypass these middlemen, connecting farmers to restaurants while ensuring fair prices and quicker deliveries for all.
Established in 2018, Glife serves more than 2,500 customers and 1,000 farmers. The vertically integrated food solution provider boasts one of the largest customer bases here, says co-founder Caleb Wu.
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“We started in the supply chain space because we see a lot of inefficiency in this area,” Wu tells The Edge Singapore. “A lot of new middlemen, we feel, unfairly increase the price for end-customers, which are restaurants and hotels, but never really pass down a good amount of margin to the farmers.”
When the circuit breaker halted dining islandwide, the B2B agritech company turned B2C for a short period, selling produce directly to consumers. “It was a very tough time; our revenue dove by 75%,” says Wu. “But we pivoted quite swiftly, and Covid-19 actually made for our best year, compared to many other suppliers who shut down.”
Wu claims that this tenacity was what attracted Temasek Holdings, whose wholly-owned investment subsidiary Heliconia Capital led an $11 million Series A round in Glife last year. “They were interested in our ability to execute and be ready, to be agile and nimble in a crisis.”
(From left) Glife chief product officer Wayne Goh, co-founder Caleb Wu and chief technology officer Chardy Wang at the company’s warehouse in Buroh Lane
The funding round was joined by the Hibiscus Fund, a venture capital fund managed by Malaysia’s RHL Ventures and South Korea’s KB Investment, as part of the Dana Penjana Nasional (DPN) Programme by the Malaysian Government. Glife had previously raised a seed funding round of $3 million, led by Global Founders Capital.
Wu first met fellow co-founder Justin Chou on his school basketball team. “We stayed in touch and Glife was born out of an initial idea to become the GrabFood for plant-based meals,” says Wu.
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Chou is also the co-founder of Green Dot, a local plant-based restaurant chain; and executive director of Growthwell Foods, an alternative protein start-up. “With Justin’s understanding of the F&B space, we realised there are more issues to be solved from the fundamentals,” Wu adds.
Starting out with a unit at Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre was a no-brainer, as 95% of Singapore’s fresh produce comes from the 24-hour facility, says Wu.
He remembers the funny looks his team received there, as they were arguably the youngest people in the building. “When we were at Pasir Panjang, it was unusual to see a few youngsters, and we got weird looks. They were thinking: ‘These young people won’t make it.’ But we moved into bigger and bigger warehouses, we got more vehicles and a few of them came to us and said: ‘My children are not taking over. Do you guys want to take over my business?’”
Today, Glife operates a processing facility in Johor Bahru that pre-cuts and packs produce before it is transported to the company’s warehouse in Buroh Lane. The company also recently announced its expansion into Malaysia and Indonesia.
Technology has a “whitespace” in the food supply chain, says Wu. “You see a lot of tech solutions out there, all the way from restaurants to suppliers to farmers. We think the supply chain side is where there is a serious lack of technology.” He adds: “What was the story behind Glife? We started off trying to support underdogs; in our mission, we call it uplifting small farmers and businesses. So, I think it’s the same idea where we see the need to collectively move towards digital solutions.”
Stacking growth
As Singapore enters the third year of its “30 by 30” plan, the 2030 goal is beginning to look less like an ambition and more like a deadline. By that year, Singapore aims to produce 30% of its nutritional needs locally. Wu thinks this is a feasible timeline. “It just requires more investment, more skill, more volume and definitely more support from consumers to choose locally produced food.”
Wu adds: “One reason why the supply chain isn’t innovating as fast as the restaurant space is because of the talent; you don’t see a lot of young talents willing to be in this space. Only when you do, will you see a lot of innovation.”
With Glife facilitating the supply chain of produce, other start-ups populate either ends of the line.
Just down the road from Glife’s warehouse is Archisen, a local agritech company with a 7,000 sq ft indoor vertical farm. Founded in 2015, Archisen has grown to produce about 100 tonnes — or about 1% — of locally grown leafy vegetables a year. The “30 by 30” goal is a “necessary endeavour”, says Dickson Ng, farm technologist at Archisen. “It’s something that we definitely need to strive for.”
Archisen’s flagship brand, Just Produce, carries a line of salads and speciality herbs, free of chemical pesticides or GMOs. Just Produce retails at various online and physical stores, including RedMart, Shopee and FairPrice Finest.
For the recent Lunar New Year, Just Produce launched a yusheng product as a collaboration with two other local companies: a fish farm and a sauce manufacturer.
“As much as we are seeing positive signs now that consumers are moving towards buying local produce, there are definitely some challenges. It will not be extremely smooth-sailing from A to Z,” says Ng to The Edge Singapore.
He lists three challenges Singapore must overcome. “The first one is the state of technology. The state of agritech needs to get better in order to produce higher yield at lower cost.”
Ng adds: “The second one is that more consumers will need to be convinced that buying local, buying a higher value crop, is a good thing, both for their health and for food security.”
Finally, Ng hopes more investments can be made in Singapore’s agritech space. Vertical farming has unusual building requirements.
“The surprising thing is that a lot of facilities in Singapore do not have the height that we require,” says Ng.
“In addition to that, vertical farming is a rather energy-intensive endeavour. We need the facility to support our electricity use,” he adds.
Archisen says it has tested on more than 50 crop types and achieved over 100 times more yield per unit area than conventional farming.
(From left) Archisen’s farm technologist Dickson Ng and co-founder Vincent Wei at the company’s vertical farm in Buroh Lane
“One of the main things that we’re working on is to be able to confidently make more varieties commercially available and for it to be viable as a business,” says co-founder Vincent Wei. “So, that would require us to constantly work on crop science, to increase yields to reduce costs, so that we can provide the crops at an affordable price.”
On Shopee, a 60g box of fresh wasabi mustard greens by Just Produce retails for $7. While some may baulk at the price, Wei sees a shift in Singaporeans’ understanding of local produce. “It’s not just about buying the cheapest vegetable but buying the vegetable that is healthy and nutritious, supporting the local community and supporting food resilience. Many developed countries also support local production, rather than just buying the cheapest one from overseas.”
Unfolding crops
New methods of improving crop yield go even further upstream than just vertical farming.
Unveiled in August 2020, Unfold is a vertical farming venture by Temasek and Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm of German life sciences giant Bayer. “By utilising seed genetics (or germplasm) from vegetable crops, Unfold will focus on developing new seed varieties coupled with agronomic advice tailored for the unique indoor environment of vertical farms,” reads Bayer’s press release at the launch.
The company raised US$30 million ($41.19 million) in its initial funding round and entered into an agreement for certain rights to germplasm from Bayer’s vegetable portfolio. “
Unfold will be the first company that will really be able to take advantage of the rich seed and germplasm resources that Bayer has,” said Dr John Purcell, president and CEO of Unfold.
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Back in 2018, Temasek paid EUR3 billion ($4.4 billion) for an additional 3.6% stake in Bayer and increased its total to about 4%. The additional investment from Temasek was part of Bayer’s efforts to fund the US$62.5 billion takeover of seed maker Monsanto, where Purcell was from.
With this substantial stake, Temasek has reportedly communicated its displeasure about Bayer’s current CEO Werner Baumann.
According to a March 26 Bloomberg report, Temasek has longstanding concerns about Bayer’s operating performance under Baumann and the company’s lack of succession planning, citing unnamed sources.
However, Baumann is staying put, as evident by voting at the company’s AGM on April 30.
Anuj Maheshwari, managing director and head of agri-food at Temasek, says: “It has been about 18 months since the company has started. They have a very strong team, with CEO John Purcell and this team is continuing to grow and develop.”
Unfold is continuing its research and product the development for varieties of vegetables that can be grown in the indoor growing environment. “They have obvious access to a very, very strong germplasm, which many companies don’t have. They are generating some revenue and also have a strong pipeline of products,” adds Maheshwari.
Maheshwari says the company has been in talks for several partnerships with vertical farming companies. “I don’t think Unfold has announced those, so I cannot give you the details, but these partnerships are a key way to grow in that business.”
He adds: “You provide seeds to a vertical farm and the farm is essentially just a customer. But if you onboard them as a partner, you can do development of products, and you can also know what the challenges your customers face. We remain excited about the prospect of Unfold in developing new varieties of seeds that are tailored for the indoor growing environment.”
Photos Albert Chua/The Edge Singapore
