Foodtech startup Greens secures pre-seed funding from East Ventures

  • Aims to improve the way people grow, obtain their food
  • Funds to build an ecosystem for food decentralisation

Greens co-founders Erwin Gunawan (left) and Geraldi Tjoa (right)Greens, an integrated food technology startup that is transforming Indonesia’s food system, announced that it has secured an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding in a round led by East Ventures. Other investors also participated in this round.

Andi Sie, chief executive officer of Greens, said the investment from East Ventures serves as a strong testament of Green’s mission where it aims to enable integrated food technology to bring about a new food ecosystem that will further improve the way people grow and obtain their food. 

According to Greens, Indonesia loses up to 48 million metric tonnes of food annually, for the most part due to inefficient processing, storage, transportation, and selling of food crops. 

It said as a country with abundant agricultural resources, Indonesia experiences high risk of soil erosion. This poses a threat to food security as the lack of organic content in the soil harms yields, which can lead to malnutrition and food scarcity.

Additionally, based on quality and safety scores of the food control system, Indonesia was ranked seven out of nine Asean countries in 2020. 

These are persisting and correlating issues surrounding the country’s broken food system which propelled Greens’ founders to work towards advancing food system transformation in Indonesia.

Greens said its solution is a new, hyperlocal, food ecosystem where people can consume high nutrient meals that are grown and harvested onsite using 90% less water, 70% less land, and zero distance from farm to meal. 

Geraldi Tjoa, co-founder and chief product officer of Greens said its Greens platform consists of a fully automated garden unit called Greens pod, that is modular, portable and plug-and-play. 

“This system is fully integrated for the production of high nutrient foods from seed to a complete salad meal and beyond, which can be accessed from wherever you are,” he said.

Greens said it will allocate the new funding to build an ecosystem for food decentralisation in two phases. 

Phase one will focus on enabling a hyperlocal food ecosystem by creating cloud networks of connected hyperlocal food outlets with the Greens’ platform, while phase two will focus on Meta Farming, which will enable everyone to grow food in the metaverse for self consumption and/or sale, it added.

The startup claimed that its solution has contributed to several Sustainable Development Goals with highlights including supporting everyone to grow their own food through the platform, providing essential micronutrients, using 90% less water and no harmful chemicals for farming.

Melisa Irene, partner at East Ventures, said “Greens help cut food distribution inefficiencies by shortening the distance between where foods are planted and harvested, making it possible for one to grow their own food at their own location. 

“We are pleased to welcome Greens as part of East Ventures’ portfolio and fully support its mission to localise food production to enhance resilience and sustainability of food systems in Indonesia,” she added.

 

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