Day: August 24, 2020

In 2016, Siripen Suntornmonkongsri, an entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in the sesame business in Thailand, decided to leverage her expertise to develop a product that not only encourages people to consume the seeds in the right way, but is also environmentally-friendly.

Shortly, she met and brainstormed the idea with Dr Napatrapee Luengsakul and Dr Tongchai Puttongsiri — two food scientists and professors of King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang in Bangkok.

Their mission: to develop a new super food that is not only tasty but can also be part of our daily diet.

“Our research yielded good results and it led us to develop Sesamilk in 2018,” Suntornmonkongsri tells e27.

What is Sesamilk?

Sesamilk — a product of Sesamilk Foods Co. Ltd. and member of the first batch of the Space-F accelerator run by the Nation Innovation Agency of Thailand— is an alternative to dairy milk and is extracted from premium-grade Thai sesame seeds, a rich source of fat.

Unlike other plant-based milk, Sesamilk is extracted from natural seeds — no dairy, soy, or nuts.

Also Read: Whole-plant based meat brand Karana raises US$1.7M

The product, which hit the market in March 2019, contains no ingredients that are harmful to health.

“All around the world, there is an increasing number of people who are allergic to dairy or soy milk,” says the CEO. “Coupled with this fact is that the number of vegetarians and health-conscious people is on the rise. Sesamilk targets this community.”

Sesame seeds are tiny, oil-rich seeds that grow in pods on the Sesamum indicum plant. The seeds have many potential health benefits and have been used in folk medicine for thousands of years.

Popular in Asia, the sesame seeds are used as sprinkles on buns and its oil is widely used for cooking. However, its nutrients are not absorbed by the human body in its entirety when used as oil or sprinkles.

“But when turned into a drink, sesame’s full nutrients can be absorbed by the human body. What is more remarkable is that sesame is believed to contain the cure for cancer,” she explains.

Health benefits

Suntornmonkongsri remarks that Sesamilk contains nutrients such as sesamin, sesamolin and sesamol. Sesamin can increase thermogenesis and fat oxidation, regulate fat-burning enzymes, decrease fat storage, and increase insulin sensitivity and ketone formation.

Apart from this, sesamin is also a potent antioxidant, reduces cholesterol level in the body, regulates HDL levels, decreases blood pressure, and improves liver and kidney health.

“We call it ‘functional milk’. Sesamilk contains Sesamin 128x more than soy milk-mixed black sesame and is also healthier than cow milk as it contains no growth hormone or cholesterol and is not allergic either, ” she says, sharing more details of the product.

Sesamilk is natural and can be consumed by kids as less as one-year-old and the product caters to those who are lactose-intolerant, cow milk-allergic, vegetarians and vegans.

Currently, Sesamilk is available in about 500 stores (online and offline) across Thailand. The product is also exported to Japan, Macau, Hongkong and Vietnam.

“We are getting good feedback from our customers, not just from our home country but also from countries like Japan, which is well aware of the benefits of sesame,” she remarks.

“We also see opportunities for Sesamilk in global markets. As a cow milk replacement, Sesamilk also foresees a massive opportunity in the HORECA industry, especially in cafes, as it can foam and goes well with coffee and beverages,” she says.

In addition to producing Sesamilk, the startup also promotes sesame farming in Thailand, which is economic and sustainable because the plant is drought-resistant.

Challenges

Creating awareness has been a daunting task for Sesamilk right from the start, admits the CEO. As a first mover, the company may have to invest more in the marketing activities and try to create brand awareness in many countries at the same time, she admits.

Also Read: Bühler invests in Big Idea Ventures’s New Protein Fund; to invest in up to 100 plant- and cell-based firms

“Funding is also an important part we grow. We have already received our first seed funding from two angel investors — Lee Choo Chien of Singapore and Somchai Hirunyakorn of Thailand. However, we will look to raise more investment this year to expand further,” she concluded.

The company has a competitor in Singapore, called TurtleTree Labs, which uses cell-based technology to create milk without requiring animals. In January, KBW Ventures, the VC firm owned by Saudi entrepreneur and investor HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, invested in TurtleTree.

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Image Credit: Sesamilk

The post Why Sesamilk thinks plant-based milk is healthier than cow milk and has a bright future appeared first on e27.

Smith Taweelerdniti, Managing Director of his family business Nithi Foods, based in Chaing Mai, Thailand, used to give talks on global food trends back in 2017, most of which were related to healthy diet.

One day, he asked himself how many of the good health-related trends Nithi followed and implemented in its products.

“We realised we didn’t follow any of the good food trends,” he tells e27,” because we were not sure what trend was right or what was wrong — there were so many diet gurus and diet styles in the market. So I embarked on a journey to find out more and started reading books to gain knowledge of the health-related foods.”

Also Read: Why Sesamilk thinks plant-based milk is healthier than cow milk and has a bright future

After a lot of reading, he zeroed in on a theme: plant-based diet.

Turning vegetarian

“The very next day (12 January 2018), I decided to turn vegetarian. Then I started reading and watching more videos on vegans. This is when I chanced upon a video of Beyond Meat, which makes meat out of plant ingredients which still tasted as good as real meat,” he recounts. “This inspired me to start something similar in my home country.”

‘Let’s Plant Meat’ was founded in March 2020 by Taweelerdniti (CEO), as a division of Nithi Foods (It is currently in the process of spinning off as a separate entity).

It is an alternative meat made out of four plants — soy, rice, coconut and beetroot.

Currently, the startup offers two products: plant-based burger patty and minced meat.

“The burger patty, once cooked, will have the aroma of grilled meat, plus herbs and spices. The texture is firm outside but it is tender inside — similar to the texture you expect in a real meat burger,” says Taweelerdniti. “We cover both western and eastern cooking styles with strong emphasis on Asian consumers demand in tastes, sizes and price.”

The process

It starts from plant protein extracts (soy and rice protein). The proteins are then made into texturised structure using high heat and pressure.

“We then add these proteins to water, add coconut fat, and mix them with many ingredients to perform the desired function such as binding, colouring, flavouring to give it a umami taste, and then freeze quickly. It then becomes frozen plant-based meat ready to be shipped for cooking anywhere in the world,” he explains.

Plants-based meat tastes as good as animal meat, and some can’t even distinguish the difference. It has also incorporated so many advancements in food science and technology.

Also Read: Bühler invests in Big Idea Ventures’s New Protein Fund; to invest in up to 100 plant- and cell-based firms

“Compared to animal meat, plant-based meat has no anti-biotic, cholesterol, animal proteins or fats, which are key contributors of cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer,” he shares.

Besides the health benefits, plants-based meats also have some environmental benefits and can even stop climate change. Says he: “It uses much less energy, clean water, land to produce plant-based meat than those in production of animal meat.”

As per a study conducted by the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems, making one plant-based burger consumed 99 per cent less water, 93 per cent less land, 90 per cent fewer green house gas emission, 46 per cent less energy than a real beef burger.

“To top it all, I think the taste of plants-based meat has got much better than in the past. The success of Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have been real inspiration,” he says.

Opportunities

Let’s Plant Meat (a startup incubated by Space-F, a startup programme run by National Innovation Agency) primarily targets vegans, vegetarians and anyone who cares about one’s health. “Our products will be focusing more on mainstream meat items that can be made from plants. We will be working on marinated meat and sausages products soon,” he discloses.

Thai food is one of the most popular cuisines in the world. In addition to the popular Tom Yum Kung, Pad Thai, and spicy curries, the country also has a lot of meat-based cuisines like skewer meat, spicy sausages, and fish cakes.

“We can now offer meat-based recipes using plant-based option for exports. We have so many inquiries from frozen meal and retort pouch companies, who want to incorporate our plant-based meat into their products,” Taweelerdniti says.

According to the founder, Thailand as a food manufacturing country has a lot to offer to the world; it has skilled workers, good supporting ecosystems and cost-effectiveness.

“The domestic market is interesting. People are more concerned about health than never before. With the growth of social media and small influencers, people are now more open to accepting better options that make sense for them. We hope to offer that choice. Our products are now selling in more than 120 outlets of major supermarket in Thailand,” he discloses.

“It also makes sense to turn Thailand to a hub for production of plant-based meat for distribution in this region and beyond. We are working with potential distribution partners in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, India and China,” he adds.

As per a report by Markets And Markets, the global plant-based meat market is estimated to account for a value of US$12.1 billion in 2019 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 15 per cent from 2019 to reach a value of US$27.9 billion by 2025.

The Asia Pacific market is projected to be dominated by China. The increasing environmental impact due to the excessive animal killing for meat consumption has created significant demand for plant-based meat in China.

The Chinese market is projected to witness significant growth due to the increase in demand from consumers for meatless food products, says this report.

Competition

Apart from Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods in the global market, Let’s Plant Meat has some local competitors, such as More Meat and Meat Avatar. There is also news of big players like CPF planning to enter this space.

“In Southeast Asia alone, there is a number of interesting startups such as Phuture Foods in Malaysia and WTH Foods in the Philippines. Hong Kong-based Omni Meat is probably the leader in Asia. Karana of Singapore is also a whole-plant option (which recently raised US$1.7 million led by Cocoon Capital). It will be a fun to watch this space in 2021,” he laughs.

Let’s Plant Meat is currently being funded by Nithi Foods. Taweelerdniti says the startup would like to achieve some significant milestones before raising external investments but is open to investors whose interest and value align with their’s.

Also Read: Unable to find good milk to make her dream cheese, this founder created one from stem cells

“We are working hard to grow our sales, launch some more products, expand into co-manufacturing facility for 10x capacity. We also have plans to launch our products in all major markets, deepen our research in protein technology, build a brand, and add some more key personnel,” he signs off.

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Image Credit: Let’s Plant Meat

The post No animals were harmed in the making of this ‘meat’ burger appeared first on e27.

Identity data specialist GBG leads US$7M in Singapore’s fintech CredoLab; Built on over 22M credit applications across 70+ lending partners, CredoLab’s algorithm crunches millions of features to find the most predictive micro-behavioural patterns, before converting them into risk scores; The firm has approved over US$2B in loans to date. Finextra

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Thai agritech startup Ricult secures US$2M to take its pre-Series A funding to US$5M; Investors are Bangkok Bank’s VC arm Bualuang Ventures and Bank of Ayudhya’s VC arm Krungsri Finnovate; The startup uses AI to help farmers increase yield, access online markets, and also offers a chat line with agriculture experts. e27

SEA’s tech startup investments fall 13% to US$5.6B in H1, says a Cento Ventures research; The region’s Series B and C financing (US$10M- US$50M) totalled a record US$1.2B in H1 this year, up about 25% from a year ago; gojek raised US$1.2B in March, and in May, Ninja Van raised US$279M. Bloomberg

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Why its important for SaaS startups to be frugal; The best way to be frugal here is to aim for the long run and go for a sustainable approach; the more you switch platforms in the later stages of your development, the more expenses you will suffer; Having a sustainable approach ensures frugality in the long run. e27

Why edutech is becoming an investor favourite this season; Online tutoring companies in the US, China, and India have attracted huge traction and interest from the investors; Interest and investment in tools and services designed for direct use of the students and parents are on the rise. e27

How to strategically build your brand; Business is not conducted solely based on what you provide, but also your character, credibility, integrity, and how you deal with people; The products and services are what the consumers are looking for, while personal branding is the reason why people come to you over your competitors. ABS-CBN

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How Thailand’s renewables sector will bounce back from COVID-19; Renewable energy projects all over the world rely on getting their materials, components and equipments from China, Korea, Vietnam; However, due to supply chain disruption, the sector will need to source these parts from elsewhere; This creates room in a crowded market for Thailand to make an impression. Tech Collective

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Visa launches initiative to encourage Singaporeans to support local merchants, SMEs to go digital; As part of this, Visa will be working with Shopee to feature more than 2K local micro SMEs in its marketplace and create campaigns to enable Visa cardholders to enjoy discounts when they shop at these local merchants. TechCoffeeHouse

MDEC launches #SayaDigital to spur growth in digital initiatives; The initiative has four primary goals — to make life convenient, boost income, empower careers and accelerate biz expansion; It will feature several capacity-building programmes, providing businesses with various means to go digital and enabling Malaysians to be digitally skilled with speed and at scale. MiDEC

Banks rush to apply modern tech in digital transformation in Vietnam; Many banks already started allowing customers to open online payment accounts for immediate payment transactions without waiting; This can be seen as a turning point in tech in the experience of Vietnamese card users and a strong push to promote banking digitalisation, towards a cashless society in the nation. Vietnam News

Pandemic driving adoption of health-tech for the elderly in Singapore; Telehealth and telemedicine technologies are on the rise; Accelerating home-based health services delivered through technologies would support the transformations needed to care for older adults at home and create market incentives to develop and deploy such technologies. The Straits Times

Indonesia can expect more startup investment: Sequoia India; At least 31 funding agreements for local startups were announced in Q2, higher than the 24 deals recorded over the same period last year; There are opportunities in the “old-school” digital economy, from e-commerce and cashless payments to warung, manufacturing and financial services. Jakarta Post

E-wallet service provider Boost helps micro SMEs move biz online in Malaysia; This will be done by providing its own e-commerce catalog and integrated with Boost Payment Link feature; During the campaign period until Sept 30, participating traders have the opportunity to receive rewards and benefits. Malay Mail

Pertama Digital eyes US$120M revenue from digital biz; The firm is expected to launch its own app MyPay, which aims to offer a one-stop centre for all queries and payment related transactions with government agencies, by end-2020; Pertama Digital is the proposed name change for investment holding firm Sinotop Holdings. Malay Mail

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Top Thai telco Advanced Info Service urges factories to adopt 5G for robots and AI; It has set aside US$1.4B to build 5G infra in the country’s crucial Eastern Economic Corridor; It aims to bring the next-gen mobile standard to manufacturers, giving them a tool they can use to introduce cutting-edge robotics, AI and internet-connected devices to their factories. Nikkei Asia Review

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More Vietnamese use ride-hailing services, survey; The percentage of surveyed participants booking a ride via ride-haling platforms on their mobile devices rose to 83% in 2019 from 45% a year ago; The survey also found that a majority of Vietnamese had demand for participating in sharing economy business models. Vietnam News

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Image Credit: 123rf.com

The post Ecosystem Roundup: SEA’s tech startup investments fall 13% to US$5.6B in H1 2020; Credo Lab, Ricult receive investment appeared first on e27.