FluoroSat, DAIZ, Let’s Plant Meat, and Crowde won the startup prizes at this year’s Future Food Asia 2020 conference. ADB Ventures is a Key Partner of Future Food Asia 2020, supporting the Conference through ADB Ventures Labs.
The Future Food Asia 2020 conference was held virtually from September 21 to September 25 with a focus on innovative solutions for making the agri-food value chain more resilient.
Launched in 2017, Future Food Asia (FFA) supports startups with transformative solutions for the agriculture and food industry. With nearly 200 startups applying for the FFA 2020, ADB Ventures supports the Conference through ADB Ventures Labs – recognizing and rewarding Asia Pacific entrepreneurs building sustainable innovations to eliminate inefficiencies and scarcities in the agri-value food chain.
“Future Food Asia does invaluable work by empowering startups to resolve sustainable food production challenges in the region and beyond,” said Dominic Mellor, ADB Ventures Principal Investment Specialist. “The ADB Ventures team was inspired by the innovations that the AgriTech and FoodTech companies presented at this year’s Future Food Asia Conference.”
11 shortlisted finalists pitched their innovations virtually to a live global audience of over 600 industry leaders and investors, and the conference jury selected the Australian company FluoroSat for the US$ 100,000 Future Food Asia Award.
FluoroSat’s team pioneered the FluroSenseTM crop analytic system, which provides real-time alerts on crop performance and helps agribusinesses enhance sustainable management practices. The system now monitors over 7 million acres of arable land and is used by advisors and agronomists in 14 countries.
“FluroSat is very excited to be selected as a winner of the FFA prize, and establish this important partnership to support our global expansion and bring the climate-smart agriculture decision support tools to farmers and agronomists all over the world!”, said Dr. Anastasia Volkova, CEO, and Founder of FluroSat.
Meanwhile, plant-protein startups DAIZ (Japan) and Let’s Plant Meat (Thailand) both won Future Food Asia’s Bühler and Givaudan Plant Protein Award. Bühler Group and Givaudan were co-hosts of FFA2020’s exclusive Plant Protein Masterclass.
“We congratulate both teams at DAIZ and Let’s Plant Meat for earning the Plant Protein Award of this Future Food Asia edition,” said Dominique Kull, Head of Technology at Bühler Group. “The two winners prove that Asia, a long-time protein importer, will take a central role in scaling the plant-based meat revolution.”
FFA partner Corteva AgriscienceTM awarded its Carteva Agriscience Prize for Food Resilience to the Indonesian company Crowde, an agri-focused fintech company that created a peer-to-peer microfinancing ecosystem that empowers small farmers across Indonesia.
“The Crowde team stood out as one that is most closely aligned to Corteva’s purpose of enriching smallholder farmers and workers along the food and agriculture ecosystem to achieve
food security and resilience through technology innovation,” said Peter Ford, President of Asia Pacific, Corteva Agriscience.
“We were impressed by the data-powered AgriTech solutions from the winning startups,” Mellor remarked after the conference. “FluoroSat’s analytics system and the plant-based meat alternatives from DAIZ and Let’s Plant Meat will prove to be game-changers for sustainable food production. Meanwhile, Crowde’s fintech platform will empower agricultural suppliers across the region to meet growing crop demands.”
For more information about Future Food Asia’s work with AgriTech and FoodTech startups, click here.