Bits x Bites’ Chinese agrifood tech fund raises $30m

Bits x Bites, accelerator and venture capital start-up, has raised $30 million in the first close of its new agrifood tech fund for China.

The capital marks the first close in a new $70 million funding round and will be used to invest in transformative technology, in an effort to build a more resilient and sustainable agrifood supply chain, with a focus on the Chinese market.

Established in 2016, Bits x Bites backs early-stage Chinese and international founders with the intention of advancing bioscience, data science, and processing technology to tackle challenges along the Chinese food supply chain. Current examples include InnovoPro, an Israeli chickpea protein concentrate company and cultured meat start-up, Future Meat Technologies. 

Bits x Bites are also behind the China Food Tech Hub, a new platform that enables start-ups to cooperate with global companies. Current members include Danone, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and more recently, Nestlé, Ajinomoto and Barilla’s Blu1.

The start-up received backing from limited partners such as Singapore investors, Temasek and Heritas Capital Management, as well as the CEO of Monde Nissin, a Philippine food company that owns UK meat replacement company Quorn.

Several food conglomerates and family offices in China and Southeast Asia also joined.

“With African Swine Flu, Covid, and uncertain trade relations, nothing else is more urgent in China today than growing the self-sufficiency and sustainability in food production,” said Matilda Ho, founder and managing director of Bits x Bites.

She added: “Whether it is a discovery platform for novel agri inputs, bio-manufacturing of high-demand functional ingredients, or machine learning for farm automation, these process innovations are vital for raising our food system’s productivity and improving the nutritional and safety performance of our food product.”

Mojia Bio marks the first new portfolio company in Bits x Bites’s new fund. It is a Chinese bio industrial company that produces essential nutrients, with a proprietary bio-manufacturing process that claims to increase yield and limit by-product and environmental pollution.

A final closing of the funding round is anticipated in the coming months.