Thai Union has formed a subsidiary company in Singapore, chosen for its status as a regional hub of food-tech start-ups.
Thai Union South East Asia Pte. Ltd. is wholly owned by Thai Union and has a registered capital of SGD 300,000 (USD 219,690, EUR 187,610).
“Having a presence in Singapore [will] help Thai Union to facilitate the building of relationships and facilitating collaboration with the ventures, and in the food-tech ecosystem more broadly,” Thai Union said.
On 30 September, Thai Union announced it will invest in Alchemy Foodtech, a diabetes food tech innovation firm, and food-tech investment fund VisVires New Protein, both of which are based in Singapore.
According to Thai Union President and CEO Thiraphong Chansiri, the company is working with other partners such as universities, research institutions, and the broader food tech ecosystem to develop new technologies in food tech. Thai Union aims to provide support and will consider establishing collaborations with the start-ups in which it invests.
Thai Union created its Corporate Venture Fund last year to push investment in food-tech innovation. The company has made an initial commitment of USD 30 million (EUR 25.6 million) for investments in innovative companies that are developing breakthrough technologies in food-tech.
For its part, Singapore is creating favorable policy environment to attract new food-tech startups. In June, Enterprise Singapore, a government agency for enterprise development, said it will dedicate SGD 55 million (USD 40.3 million, EUR 34.4 million) to help boost the growth of agriculture and aquaculture companies in the country by building up their innovation capabilities.
“Singapore’s strong innovation climate and supporting infrastructure make it a conducive place for agri-food technologies to take root,” Enterprise Singapore said in a release.
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