If China is the land of big numbers, this designation applies equally well to the food & agriculture sector where big numbers are signalling both the scale of problems plaguing the existing food system, and a growing appetite for innovation to fix its systemic challenges. Rising to such challenges, especially as ESG standards put pressure on the international investment community to adapt, and interest for agrifoodtech investments growing, China once again defies expectations and is on the path to building its own trajectory at a fast pace.
ID Capital is responding to this development by making the strategic step of expanding into China with the opening of ID Capital China, following its mantra that global challenges deserves both global and home-grown solutions, cross-pollination between different disciplines, entrepreneurial talents and a deep cultural understanding of the local context. The new entity, based in Shanghai, will be run by Steven Zhang, an industry veteran and serial entrepreneur with 15 years of experience working in leading food & agriculture corporations such as Cargill and OSI Group, further to which he set up and successfully exited from two ventures in the ICT and agtech sector.
ID Capital China will act as an investment and advisory company to support science- and technology-led early-stage innovations in their expansion in the Mainland Chinese market. It will deploy capital in early-stage start-ups with a transformative proposition and a strong product/market fit for China. It will also provide strategic and financial advisory services to corporations and later-stage start-ups to support their expansion plans. For this it will tap into the expertise of ID Capital, its unique business model and track record in fostering a vibrant agrifoodtech innovation ecosystem out of Singapore, for the benefit of the entire Asia-Pacific region
“In the past 20 years, China’s vast and complex food and agriculture systems developed against the backdrop of globalization and internet transformation. In the next 20 years, technologies such as biotechnology and data science are going to drive the transformation of the whole industry, and this is where ID Capital will be playing a catalytic role. Innovation has become more complex, more combinatorial, but also potentially more transformative, leading to solutions that are better for the planet and better for the people. But this will only happen if we can catalyze the convergence between start-up and corporate innovation, between capital and impact, and this is what ID Capital stands for”, says Steven Zhang, Managing Director of ID Capital China.
“The future of food is in our hands, and we shall turn to Chinese wisdom to remember that the only way to catch a tiger cub is to go into the tiger’s den [不入虎穴，焉得虎子]. Over the past 5 years we have seen China rising to the food challenge in its own way, and realized there were immense opportunities that could best be addressed from within. We could not be happier to welcome Steven at this critical juncture. His dual experience will go a long way towards bringing this convergence the industry needs”, said Isabelle Decitre, Founder & CEO of ID Capital.
About ID Capital
ID Capital is an investment company headquartered in Singapore specialized in the domain of AgriTech and FoodTech in the Asia-Pacific region. ID Capital is a pioneer in the agrifood sector in Asia-Pacific and has contributed effort and capital in also catalyzing the ecosystem in the region through its Future Food Asia platform launched in 2016. Its thesis is built on the fact that in this growing vertical, Asia-Pacific is the nexus between high growth and high stakes. ID Capital is also an Appointed Partner for Startup SG Equity for the AgriFoodTech sector.
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