Thai Union Group, a Thailand-based seafood provider, has made three direct investments and a limited partner (LP) commitment to VisVires New Protein, a Singapore-based food tech investment fund.

Thai Union set up a $30m corporate venturing fund targeting alternative protein, functional nutrition and value chain technology startups last year and its new direct investments are Alchemy Foodtech, a Singapore-based diabetes food tech company; Manna Foods, a US-based insect tech and e-commerce company; and HydroNeo, a Germany-based aquaculture technology company .

All three companies were part of the first cohort of SPACE-F, the first food tech incubator and accelerator program in Thailand, which Thai Union is a founding partner of, alongside Mahidol University and Thailand’s National Innovation Agency (NIA).

Thai Union is also an LP in VisVires New Protein, a Singapore-based food tech venture capital firm’s second fund. VisVires’ deals have included Ynsect, Nuritas, Mitte, In Ovo, Nutrition Innovation, ViAqua, Aleph Farms and Mushlabs.

Thiraphong Chansiri, president and CEO of Thai Union, said: “We are committed to open innovation as an important part in Thai Union’s innovation strategy, complementing our in-house innovation efforts. As such, we are working with external parties including universities, research institutions and the broader food tech ecosystem to support and fast-track innovative ideas and technologies.

“Our venture capital investments in the food tech space are an important part of this. Of course, our investment in these companies goes beyond a financial commitment as we also intend to provide guidance and support and will look to pursue collaborations wherever possible. In addition, investing into VisVires New Protein also opens a wider, global spectrum for opportunities and we are looking forward to developing a range of exciting opportunities with them.”

Picture source: Thiraphong Chansiri from company

James Mawson

James Mawson is founder and chief executive of Global Venturing.