September 05, 2019 | 12:56 (GMT+7)
Three Japanese firms to invest in farm, food tech startups in Southeast Asia
Three Japanese enterprises have teamed up with a Singaporean firm to set up a joint venture to invest in agriculture and food technology startups in Southeast Asia.
They are biotechnology firm Euglena Co., farm machinery maker Kobashi Industries Co. and consulting service firm for startups Leave a Nest Co. from Japan and Focustech Ventures Pte. Ltd. from Singapore.
Germi8 Pte. Ltd., the joint venture located in Singapore set up by the companies, aims to help grow local ventures with cutting-edge information technology at their initial fundraising stage
It plans to inject 100 million yen (940,000 USD) into about 20 firms over the next three years.
The joint venture is already in talks with eight startups for partnership.
Since 2014, Leave a Nest has boosted a campaign to build an ecosystem leveraging startups in six Southeast Asian nations through its subsidiary Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Since early 2018, the Tokyo-based consulting firm has partnered with Focustech and Kobashi Industries, which provides technical assistance and seeks opportunities to team up with local firms on what is its first overseas investment, they said.
Source: VNA