SPACE-F Batch III driving Innovation in FoodTech in Asia with its world-class Accelerator and Incubator Program

BANGKOK – March 25, 2022 – SPACE-F, the first global FoodTech startup incubator and accelerator program in Thailand, announced Batch III in November 2021. The program kick started in early February with 18 startups enrolled from Thailand, Singapore, USA, Canada, Finland, France, Hong Kong, and Poland.

Established through a cooperation between the National Innovation Agency or NIA, Thai Union Group PCL, and Mahidol University, SPACE-F runs on a bespoke curric-ulum that is interactive and hands-on, tailored towards helping startups find prob-lem solution-fit and product market-fit.

“SPACE-F is the international program run by NIA and alliances that is open to startups globally who are interested in entering the Southeast Asian market” says Dr.Pun-arj Chairatana, Executive Director at NIA. “We act as a system integrator to support startups without taking equity, with the objective to add sustainable value to the ecosystem of Food Technology and Innovation in Thailand and to drive Bangkok to be FoodTech Silicon Valley of the world.”

“Thai Union actively helps secure investments into participating SPACE-F Program companies, and this batch will be no exception” says Ludovic Garnier, Group CFO at Thai Union.

“With expert knowledge delivered within a culture of deep research, Mahidol Uni-versity will not only provide technical and scientific support to the startups, but also aim to customise solutions for each startup’s specific needs” says Dr. Panwajee Payongsri, Lecturer, Department of Biotechnology, Mahidol University. “Our aim is to help develop and patent prototypes that cater to each startup’s individual needs”.

We are proud to announce the startups of this year’s accelerator program:

• WeavAir, Canada
• Nabsolute, Thailand
• EniferBio, Finland
• Potent Fungi, Thailand
• Mi Terro, USA
• EnerGaia, Thailand
• More Meat, Thailand
• Jamulogy, Thailand
• Kinnva, Singapore

The incubator cohort features:

• Phagos, France
• Balance Corp, Thailand
• Kokoonic, Thailand
• MakeGrowLab, Poland
• MUU, Thailand
• POWCO, Thailand
• Tasted Better, Thailand
• Pet Dynamic, Hong Kong
• Mercy Foie Gras, Thailand

With the corporate mission of “Creating & Sharing the Value of Growth”, ThaiBev is the corporate partner of the program. “SPACE-F combines large corporates, aca-demia, startups and the support of large corporations and consulting companies, thus creating an ecosystem that fosters entrepreneurship and is indeed the perfect recipe for Innovation and Entrepreneurship” says Ms. Tongjai Thanachanan, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainable Business Development, ThaiBev.

About NIA

NIA’s mission is to support and develop Thailand’s innovation system, in both the way of improvement and initiation, to promote economic restructuring and com-petitive enhancement. NIA functions as the key engine driving national innovation by co-creation, networking, fostering, and partnering different organizations from various fields such as academic, technology, industry, finance, and investment. Its focus is on utilizing knowledge management to achieve innovation, particularly to foster “innovation on cluster platform” which uses innovation as the principal tool in improving quality of life and driving towards an increasing competitive economy.

About Thai Union Group

Thai Union Group PCL is the world’s seafood leader, bringing high quality, healthy, tasty and innovative seafood products to customers across the world for 45 years.

Today, Thai Union is regarded as one of the world’s leading seafood producers and is one of the largest producers of shelf-stable tuna products with annual sales ex-ceeding THB 141.0 billion (US$ 4.5 billion) and a global workforce of more than 44,000 people who are dedicated to pioneering sustainable, innovative seafood products.

The company’s global brand portfolio includes market-leading international brands such as Chicken of the Sea, John West, Petit Navire, Parmentier, Mareblu, King Os-car, and Rügen Fisch, Thai-leading brands SEALECT, Fisho, Qfresh, Monori, OMG Meat, Bellotta and Marvo, and ingredient and supplement brands UniQ™BONE, UniQ™DHA and ZEAvita.

As a company committed to innovation and globally responsible behavior, Thai Un-ion is proud to be a member of the United Nations Global Compact, and a founding participating company of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF). In 2015, Thai Union introduced its SeaChange® sustainability strategy. Find out more at seachangesustainability.org. Thai Union’s on-going work on sustaina-bility issues was recognized when the company was listed on the Dow Jones Sus-tainability Indices (DJSI) for the eighth consecutive year in 2021 and ranked num-ber two in the world on the Food Products Industry Index. Thai Union was also named to the FTSE4Good Emerging Index for the fifth straight year in 2020.

About Mahidol University

Mahidol University has its origins in the establishment of Siriraj Hospital in 1888 by His Majesty King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), and the hospital’s medical school is the oldest institution of higher learning in Thailand. This diversified institution now of-fers top quality programs in numerous social and cultural disciplines, including the most doctoral programs of any institution in Thailand, yet has maintained its tradi-tional excellence in medicine and the sciences.

On 16 October 2007, the Thailand National legislative Assembly approved Mahidol University as an autonomous institution. This transformation will enhance the uni-versity’s efficiency, flexibility, and ability to innovate, and standardize its practices with those of other world-class universities.

About Thai Beverage Public Company Limited

ThaiBev was established in 2003 to consolidate a number of leading spirits and beer businesses in Thailand belonging to our founding shareholders and other in-vestors. In 2006, we registered ThaiBev's listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), and subsequently expanded to the non-alcoholic beverage and food sectors to di-versify its product portfolio, enhance logistics efficiency, and mitigate business risks. Today, ThaiBev is not only Thailand's leading beverage producer, but also one of Asia's largest beverage producers. The business consists of four segments - spirits, beer, non-alcoholic beverage, and food.