Alchemy Foodtech, a Singapore-based startup that develops active food ingredients that fight diabetes, has secured $2 million in a round led by SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore.
According to data from VentureCap Insights, Alchemy Foodtech, founded in 2015 by Alan Phua and Verleen Goh, also received commitments from Heritas Capital, Shin Shin International Holdings, and other investors.
The funding round raised the foodtech startup’s valuation, post-money, to $4.6 million.
Alchemy’s key product is Alchemy Fibre, a patented fibre blend that is proven to make carbs healthier. For instance, when added to white rice during the cooking process, Alchemy Fibre for Rice slows down the glucose release of white rice to that of brown rice, while increasing the fibre content to 2.5 times that of brown rice.
The startup was part of the first cohort of SPACE-F, Thailand’s first food tech incubator and accelerator programme. In 2020, it received investment from Thailand-based seafood producer Thai Union.
SG healthtech startup Mesh Bio raises $1.8m
Singapore-based digital health startup Mesh Bio has raised $1.8 million in a seed funding round led by deep tech investors Elev8.vc and Seeds Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore.
Citrine Capital and Tael Partners also participated in the funding round that will finance the rollout of the startup’s predictive analytics and clinical workflow automation solution DARA in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.
Founded in 2018, Mesh Bio develops clinical decision support analytics and automation solutions for the management of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular illnesses. According to Deloitte, predictive analytics will play a central role in improving the health and reducing mortality rates across age groups.
The startup’s founder, Andrew Wu, said chronic diseases are increasing in Asia. For instance, diabetes prevalence in Malaysia is the highest in the region at 16.8% compared to 14.2% in Singapore and 8.3% in Thailand.
The situation, Wu stressed, is compounded by the lack of specialists forcing general practitioners – lacking training in endocrinology – to manage these challenging patient cases. The firm was the first Asian startup to be selected for the prestigious Startup Creasphere digital health acceleration program by Roche Diagnostics and Plug and Play.
SOUTHEAST ASIA DEAL MONITOR
DealStreetAsia has also put together a table listing out prominent venture capital transactions in Southeast Asia in the week beginning March 8.
