Bits x Bites invests US$30m to ramp up agri-food tech in China

03 Nov 2020 --- Bits x Bites has raised US$30 million in the first close of its new US$70 million funding round. The Chinese venture capital firm targets a more resilient and sustainable agri-food supply chain.

By backing early-stage Chinese and international founders, Bits x Bites aims to advance bioscience, data science, and processing technology to tackle challenges along the Chinese food supply chain, from precision agriculture, crop and animal health to protein alternatives and nutrition. 

The firm is investing exclusively in the agri-food tech sector with a focus on the Chinese market.

“With African swine flu, COVID-19 and uncertain trade relations, nothing else is more urgent in China today than growing the self-sufficiency and sustainability in food production,” says Matilda Ho, founder and managing director of Bits x Bites. 

“Whether it is a discovery platform for novel agri-inputs, bio-manufacturing of high-demand functional ingredients, or machine learning for farm automation, these process innovations are vital for raising our food system’s productivity and improving the nutritional and safety performance of our food product,” Ho adds.

To date, Bits x Bites has invested in start-ups that are advancing gene editing for high-performing crops, functional chickpea-based protein ingredients, as well as cost-efficient, non-GMO cell-based meat production without animal inputs.

Mojia Bio
Mojia Bio is the first new portfolio company in Bits x Bites’ new fund. It is a Chinese bio industrial company that produces essential nutrients. 

Bits x Bites has invested in start-ups that are advancing gene editing for high-performing crops, functional protein ingredients and meat production without animal inputs.The company’s proprietary bio-manufacturing process increases yield and limits by-product and environmental pollution associated with conventional chemical synthesis. 

“China has built a vast digital ecosystem with impressive e-grocery and food delivery penetration, and these downstream platforms have been driving food and retail investment in China,” continues Ho.

“However, without investment in upstream innovation, we won’t see meaningful improvement in farm production efficiency to sustain the rapidly growing food demand.”

Without biotech and ingredient innovation midstream, Ho warns that food products will fall short of consumers’ expectations in nutrition, clean label, taste, value and transparency. 

“These opportunities are what brought Bits x Bites and our LPs together. We are grateful to have investors who share our vision so that in this economic watershed year, we can invest in emerging companies like Mojia Bio to shift our production toward sustainability,” Ho explains.

Financial backers
LPs backing Bits x Bites include Temasek, a global investment company headquartered in Singapore; Heritas Capital Management, a Singaporean investor primarily focused on health and related food technology; and the CEO of Monde Nissin, a Philippine food company that also owns UK meat alternative company Quorn.

Several food conglomerates and family offices in China and Southeast Asia have also joined the financing round. These LPs’ industrial footprint spreads across food and biosciences. The firm anticipates a final closing in the coming months.

In addition, the new fund has deployed capital in follow-on investments in Bits x Bites’ previous portfolios. They include Tropic Biosciences, a UK CRISPR gene editing company, and InnovoPro, an Israeli chickpea protein concentrate company. 

Start-ups are expected to play a critical role in the post-COVID-19 recovery efforts in addition to providing the solutions to the many future food challenges faced by society. 

A recent report on Europe’s financing initiative with the F&B sector highlighted that innovation here has been particularly hard hit due to curtailed R&D funding.

Edited by Benjamin Ferrer