 |
HONG KONG, July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brinc, a leading venture accelerator with a global sustainability mandate, and DayDayCook, a leading content-to-commerce Asian culinary platform, announce a commitment of US$10 million to invest in food technology companies that are developing the sustainable, animal-free, global food ecosystem and scaling commercialization in Greater China and Asia. DayDayCook and Brinc will invest in and support 45 companies over the next three years through the Good Food Accelerator Program, operated by Brinc. This alliance is further bolstered by Brinc's US$500,000 investment in DayDayCook, solidifying a long-term collaborative effort to support game-changing startups.
Brinc and DayDayCook's Good Food Accelerator Program
Applications for the Good Food Accelerator Program open on July 21, 2022. Startups accepted into the program will receive an initial investment of a minimum of US$200,000 and will have access to Brinc and DayDayCook's network of later-stage investors during and post-program for potential follow-on funding.
The key investment themes of the program include Alternative Protein, Functional and Novel Ingredients, Sustainable Packaging, Food Supply Chain Innovation, and consumer Agritech solutions. Companies with commercial-ready products and services that are actively contributing toward global food sustainability goals will be prioritised.
The program will be delivered completely virtually and will accept applications from commercially-ready startups located in or looking to enter the Greater China or Asian market. Interested startups can apply online here: http://www.brinc.io/good-food-accelerator/.
The core directive of the Good Food Accelerator Program is to help food tech companies meaningfully commercialise in Greater China and Asia, leveraging the online and offline distribution channels of DayDayCook's core business as well as Brinc and DayDayCook's combined network of food corporations, hospitality groups and investors in the region. With Brinc bringing eight years of accelerator program design and operational experience to strengthen the Good Food Accelerator, selected startups will also have access to DayDayCook's commercial team during the program to explore opportunities for business collaboration.
According to GFI APAC, Asia's leading alternative-protein think tank, strong year-on-year investor growth for the APAC alt-protein market is marked by a 92% surge: from US$162 million in 2020 to US$312 million in 2021. This has concurrently paved the way for the region's startups to grow in global prominence — making them a strong force alongside North America's alt-protein companies, which have fully dominated the market this past decade. In particular, the adoption of alternative proteins will be crucial for China, where, due to the rapid increase in demand for meat, the country is expected to experience a meat deficit of more than 53 million tonnes between 2021 and 2030.
Manav Gupta, founder and CEO of Brinc, said: "China's five-year agricultural development plan sets out an agenda to establish a sustainable food supply system nationwide. Brinc's Food Tech accelerator expertise, investor and mentor network along with DayDayCook's wide reach, commercial network and distribution reach in Mainland China will take us a bold step closer towards attaining this goal. We are excited to support more founders who are looking to scale alternate protein products and deep technologies from around the globe to the world's most populous market while further developing a growing food tech ecosystem across Mainland China and the Greater Bay Area. Addressing deep-rooted inefficiencies in our regional and global food systems, creating a sustainable food supply chain, plus tackling food security issues all in all help mitigate against the growing effects of climate change — which is the need of the hour and our lifetimes."
Norma Chu, founder and CEO of DayDayCook, said: "The Good Food Accelerator Program's mission is to build a leading food tech ecosystem in Hong Kong. We are thrilled to partner with Brinc to welcome our second cohort of startups, to accelerate their growth, and to kickstart a stream of commercially-viable products and innovative solutions. By sourcing innovative startups from the Greater Bay Area, Southeast Asia and areas beyond, the program will make a global splash as it carries out Hong Kong's ambition of transforming into a key innovation hub for food tech talents worldwide."
DayDayCook launched the Good Food Accelerator Program in partnership with the incubation division of Hong Kong Cyberport in December 2021. The seven startups selected in the launch cohort included five Hong Kong companies — AllKlear Health, Breer, Farmacy, Geb Import Technology, Good Food Tech — plus 70/30 Food Science & Tech (Shanghai) and Alchemy (Singapore).
Brinc has been a key global food innovation player since launching its first food technology program in 2018 — Asia's first at the time. Today, having launched AgriFood, AgriTech and Food Tech Programs in Brazil, Hong Kong and Mainland China, Brinc has more than 50 AgriFood Tech portfolio companies all building a more sustainable food future. Highly notable examples of Brinc-accelerated startups that have impacted the global stage include Avant Meats (Hong Kong), CellX (Mainland China), Exponential Foods (Mexico), Galy (USA), Haofood (Mainland China), Orbillion Bio (USA) and Phuture Foods (Singapore).
About DayDayCook
Founded in 2012, DayDayCook is a direct-to-consumer company that focuses on innovative and healthy meal solutions with a fast-growing retail footprint in China and a strong online presence globally.
DDC has launched ready-to-heat (RTH), ready-to-cook (RTC) and plant-based food products, which bring convenience and quality food products to young food lovers. The group builds brand recognition through culinary and lifestyle content across major social media and e-commerce platforms, resulting in an aggregate of over 3 billion video views and over 10 million orders worldwide. www.daydaycook.com
About Brinc
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Brinc is a leader in global venture acceleration, operating 18 multidisciplinary accelerator programs in seven countries. Brinc accelerates startups focused on Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, connected hardware, drones, robotics, clean energy and food technology, all within a sustainability mandate. Brinc's goal is to empower founders to accelerate humanity's transition to a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable future.
Brinc has a portfolio of 200+ companies with founders from more than 38 countries. Brinc also supports corporations with investment services, distributed innovation strategies, sourcing of new startups and technologies, as well as venture-building Web 3.0-enabled businesses. Global corporations (Manulife, Huawei, Schneider Electric, Puma, Batelco, Merck, Omantel, Linrun Group, Zhihui Park), government organisations (Hong Kong Science Park, MBRIF, Guangdong Soft-tech Park), tertiary institutions (HK City University, National University of Singapore) and leading venture funds (Artesian, LeverVC, Tamkeen, EDB) have all run programs with Brinc. In 2021, Brinc announced a series of venture funds to invest in high-potential early-stage companies through accelerators and provide LPs with a dedicated innovation platform and access to Series A+ co-investment opportunities.
Learn more about Brinc: www.brinc.io and Brinc's commitment to developing sustainable systems.
