Singapore’s Temasek and Japan’s Norinchukin Bank are set to anchor a US$173 million (S$233 million) fund that will invest in agriculture and food technology start-ups across the Asia-Pacific region.
The fund, known as the Seviora T3F Strategy, will also focus on efforts to decarbonise the food and agriculture industries, according to a statement from Seviora Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek that manages US$52 billion in assets.
Tokyo-based Norinchukin is an agriculture, forestry and fisheries bank, while Temasek has been steadily growing its presence in the space.
The fund has several other institutional backers and aims to grow beyond the initial amount as more investors join. Seviora Capital will be the investment manager and will build a portfolio from deals identified by Temasek, it said.
The new fund comes as scrutiny mounts over the carbon footprint of farming, with food systems accounting for about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Without change, the problem will worsen as governments ramp up production to cater for growing populations and fight inflation.
Regulations around emissions disclosures are putting pressure on agriculture giants to track and reduce their carbon output. Even urban gardens are under scrutiny for their higher carbon footprints than conventional farms.
“The transformation of the agri-food sector is critical to decarbonisation while ensuring food security, and meeting the evolving needs of consumers,” said Temasek’s head of agri-food Anuj Maheshwari.
The fund has already started investing. Seviora said a US$17 million investment in India’s Country Delight was done as part of the strategy.
Norinchukin said in a statement: “We would like to contribute to finding solutions for society’s challenges such as decarbonisation, biodiversity and productivity enhancement by teaming up with Temasek.”
With total assets of about 100 trillion yen (S$902 billion), Norinchukin is one of Japan’s largest institutional investors.
In December 2023, it announced an investment in a US-based venture capital fund targeting early stage start-ups in agriculture and food and climate tech. BLOOMBERG
