NOSH Produce was founded by Nicole and Fred, two young entrepreneurs who discovered a keen interest in AgTech while working on their final year project. Since their graduation, have been actively seeking potential opportunities in the growing AgTech Space, hoping to positively impact local food productions. They are currently in the process of setting up their container farms and are looking to launch their first batch of harvest in August 2020.

Nicole and Fred approached Innovate360 to receive mentorship and assistance in applying for the Startup SG Founder’s AMP grant from Enterprise Singapore. They also received some help from the Ministry Trade and Industry’s Pro Enterprise Panel through Innovate 360’s founder, Mr. John Cheng who’s a member. The founders have also been receiving close guidance from one of Innovate360’s mentor, A.Prof Matthew Tan who has been closely guiding them on achieving their business goals and strategies.

1. What is Nosh Produce?

Nosh Produce is a specialty container farm in Singapore that harnesses the use of controlled environment agriculture to locally produce clean, fresh, ready-to-eat specialty greens for the Singapore market.

2. What are your backgrounds?

We both graduated from Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD). Fred specialised in Engineering Product Development while Nicole was trained in Architecture & Sustainable Design.

3. How did you start this business?

We first caught interest in Agriculture Technology during our final year capstone project, where we had the opportunity to work with Samsung to design and develop a home hydroponics system.

After we graduated last September, we decided to give ourselves 6 months to work on developing our own home hydroponics product. Less than 2 months in, we came across the opportunity to learn about Urban Crop Solutions, an established AgTech solutions provider from Belgium. Following a series of market research, email exchanges and a study trip to Urban Crop’s headquarters in early January this year, both of us decided to take this leap of faith, and start our own small-scale commercial container farm business.

Also, we were very lucky to have received strong support from our family and friends, who encouraged us and gave us the courage to pursue this as a full-time business.

4. Why did you get into this business?

After being exposed to the immense potential and opportunities that the Agriculture Technology industry has to offer, especially in a land-scarce country like Singapore, we were certain that we wanted to pursue this field. As such, we were very motivated and excited to seek related opportunities.

We believe the final ‘push’ into this container farming business was when we got to witness for ourselves the quality of produce when we went to visit the urban farmers who were using similar container farm technology in Belgium. We were truly amazed and inspired by the quality, taste and aesthetics of the produce, and wanted to share all this high-tech container goodness with our community in Singapore.

5. What differentiates you from the rest of the food market?

Nosh Produce will be the first commercial container-based farm in Singapore. We aim to leverage on the controlled environment of our container farm to produce specialty greens and introduce new varieties of agricultural produce that are not commonly found in Singapore.

6. What are some of the challenges you face as a food company during the COVID-19 period and how have you re-modelled your business to address these challenges?

Fortunately for us, we are still in the process of operationalising our container farm. Thus, the main bulk of challenges that COVID-19 posed for us lies in the disruptions in global supply chains that led to delays in the procurement of resources, such as seeds etc.

COVID-19 has also pushed us to rethink our marketing plans as well as sales / distribution channels, given the new norms such as online grocery shopping. We can’t wait to launch these plans to the public closer to our product launch date.

7. How has COVID-19 shaped consumer behaviour in terms of food and where are you strategically positioned to meet the changing demands of Consumers?

We see that the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened consumers’ focus on the quality and traceability of the food one consumes, translating to an increasing demand for locally produced, healthy and chemical-free food.

This shift in consumer behaviour synchronises perfectly with what Nosh Produce has to offer – hyperlocal, fresh, chemical-free vegetable produce, that boasts full traceability.

8. Where do you stand in Singapore’s “30 by 30” vision to grow enough food in Singapore to meet 30 percent of the population’s nutritional needs by 2030?

We think that ‘30 by 30’ is a very timely and critical initiative so as to develop and improve Singapore’s self-sufficiency, such that our nation is prepared and ready to tackle any global supply chain challenges in future. The importance in actualising this initiative is further highlighted during COVID-19 as we witnessed many instances of panic-buying, and individuals worrying there is not enough food in Singapore to tide through the pandemic.

9. What entrepreneurs do you admire and why?

In general, we feel that all entrepreneurs deserve admiration and respect in their own ways, for having the courage to challenge the norms and create value for themselves.

However, a particular entrepreneur that both of us look up to greatly is Nicole’s dad, who is also currently our advisor for Nosh Produce. Being an entrepreneur himself, with years of experience in the aquaculture farming field, he taught us the importance of taking calculated risks as well as being daring enough to make tough decisions and go through with them. We also learnt the important values of determination and self-discipline through his personal starting-out experience, where he overcame countless challenges and rejections when entering a new market.

10. Can you walk us through how a customer can use your product?

As our produce is fully grown, harvested then packaged in a zero-pesticide, controlled environment, they require no washing and are best enjoyed as they are when purchased.

11. What are some challenges you think the next generation will face with our food?

The expected exponential growth in global population, coupled with the growing unpredictability in climate changes, raises uncertainties in the ability of current food production capabilities to feed the growing population.

In our opinion, the challenge the next generation faces would be to innovate, develop and adopt more efficient food production methods, and concurrently reduce food waste significantly, so as to ensure sufficient global food supply.

12. Would you say that your business has become your past-time?

Definitely! We are firm believers that ‘fun’ and ‘joy’ are secret ingredients to effectively complete any tasks, be it completing a project or building a business.

13. What are some of your long-term goals as entrepreneurs?

Locally, a long-term goal for us would be to grow Nosh Produce into Singapore’s preferred choice for specialty crops. And we definitely hope to expand our brand out of Singapore, and gain presence in other urban cities.

The post Next Generation Farmers using AgTech to solve Singapore’s 30 by 30 Challenge first appeared on Innovate 360.

Is it really possible that the COVID-19 Virus will spark a greater acceleration in the Food Innovation space? One of the answers can be found in the source of the virus transmission – Animal Meat, where humans largely draw their source of protein intake.

24 March 2020, By Elias Tan, VP of Innovate 360

It was said to have begun at a wholesale animal market in Wuhan City which health officials have strongly suggested as the starting point of the outbreak. However, COVID-19 is not the only animal virus to have originated from meat consumption. This includes H1N1 (Bird Flu) and the Mad Cow Disease. Our attention is then turned to plant based proteins or even clean meats as a healthier and disease free option.  

Beyond Meats, Impossible Foods and Tyson’s “plant based meats” are great starting points for alternative protein innovation as meat industries begin to get disrupted by the constant outbreak of animal related diseases. Apart from producing alternatives to animal meat, a new wave of clean technology companies have arisen to produce clean meats in laboratories. Memphis Meats and Shiok Meats are great examples of companies spearheading research in this area in USA and Singapore respectively. Instead harvesting meat for consumption from slaughtered animals, the meat grown in their laboratories are produced by the culture of animal stem cells. 

The world’s first Dumplings whose prawns where made in a lab by Shiok Meats, clean meat biotech company.

Healthy Food to Boost our Immunity against Viruses

During the COVID-19 outbreak, it is important that having a good nutrition intake enables us to maintain an optimal immune system. Research has shown that the human body can fight off viruses and that we can take measures to supercharge our immunity. 

At the moment, there is a growing incentive to innovate on healthy and nutritional foods for companies like Hoow Foods. With the use of Artificial Intelligence technology, Hoow Foods reformulates popular foods that are usually known to be unhealthy, into healthier versions without compromising its taste.

Dr. Sherman(left) and Mr. Ow, founders of reformulation business Hoow Foods, which helps company make healthier products in a shorter time and as tasty.

On the other hand, Kombynation Co. targets a healthy Gut through its handcrafted kombucha beverage which contains over 30 strains of friendly bacteria and yeast known for its gut health boosting and energizing properties. The immune system requires a healthy gut to provide nourishment as it contains over 70 percent of the cells of the immune system.

Maureen and Ethan, founders of Singapore’s first factory licensed Kombucha facility at Innovate 360.

National Lock-downs driving Food Tech Innovation & Singapore’s 30 by 30

Due to the virus outbreak, numerous governments have began to close their borders and place their cities on lock-down. With the news, the world is seeing food stock-outs and empty supermarket shelves everywhere due to widespread panic buying. Under a lock-down situation, the free flow and transportation of goods and food supply chains across borders are disrupted. 

Notably, Singapore, imports more than 90% of its food. During times of crisis, the Singapore government has indicated that the country at best has around three months’ worth of food stockpile at a national level. This greatly strengthens the need for “30 by 30 vision” to be made a reality, where Singapore has set the target of producing 30% of its nutritional needs by 2030, up from less than 10% today. The aim is to increase the cultivation of vegetables and fruit and boost the production of protein sources to strengthen the resilience of Singapore’s food supply and food security.

Furthermore, in nations such as Singapore where land area is scarce, the COVID-19 lock-downs demonstrate the need to increase its food production in an inventive matter. Technology will be an important resource in realizing a strong global food security infrastructure. By tapping into cutting edge vertical aquaculture and agri-tech farming system solutions, countries like Singapore can increase its land productivity and maximise its energy and water resources. 

National lock-downs in times like these also provide global citizens a unique opportunity to “tweak” their food lifestyle choices. People are forced to learn to cook at home and even produce their own food supply through the use of home Agri-tech farming systems. One local company working to create this solution is NOSH Produce, a high tech intensive container farming system to be used for vegetable production in Singapore. NOSH Produce aims to lease out its farming systems to Singaporeans who can grow their own vegetable produce in the comfort of their homes through the use of hydroponics technology.

Post COVID-19 Situation driving Food Technology Investments

Despite the current bear stock market, the FoodTech space is definitely an attractive future candidate for investment in the light of a food security issue the world is increasingly facing.

According to PitchBook, funding for food tech has skyrocketed from about $60 million in 2008 to more than $1 billion in 2015. And unique investments from VCs and private equity funds have doubled from 223 in 2015 to 459 in 2017, according to CB Insights. With the growing COVID-19 situation, Food Tech companies producing solutions that enhance the world’s food supply in times of calamity would be a choice investment.

References
1. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/covid-19-coronavirus-all-of-italy-to-be-placed-under-lockdown-12520536 
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/billconerly/2020/02/15/covid-19-coronavirus-and-complex-supply-chains/#377d10b5538f 
3. https://www.rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/nts/singapores-30-by-30-strategy-can-food-self-production-be-achieved/#.XnhMXG5uLD4 
4. https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/recipe-for-growth-vcs-are-more-interested-in-food-tech-than-ever 
5. https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018939274-What-are-the-nutrition-facts- 

The Author

Elias Tan is Vice President of Innovate360. Innovate 360 is Singapore’s 1st food accelerator & incubator with facilities recognised by Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation as a Food Technology Partner in Food Security. It is also an Acredited Mentor Partner (AMP) under the Singapore’s government’s StartupSG program to help startups. Currently, Innovate360 is helping food startups in deep-tech, sustainability, and commercialization.

As a serial millennial entrepreneur, it came to a point where Elias had to put his time at Law School on hold to grow the various Consultancy, Fintech & Venture Capital businesses he had been building. His first venture in Fintech, Moonlight saw a $15M USD fund raise through his final year at law school together with his co-directors who built the NEO blockchain, China’s biggest blockchain protocol. Elias is also the Singapore Leader of NEO Singapore, Singapore’s local community development network supporting the NEO Block-chain. Elias frequently speaks at Global Fintech forums and is recognised as a thought leader in the Fintech Space. Elias currently sits on the board of advisories of multiple Fintech Companies and is recognised by ICObench, the worlds leading platform for Initial Coin Offerings as a Blockchain Expert.

The post COVID-19 Accelerating Food Tech first appeared on Innovate 360.