News & Events
Trendlines Agrifood Fund makes first investment
The Fund invested in Equinox, developers of a seed-breeding technology
19 February 2020
Misgav, Israel – Singapore, 19 February 2020 – The Trendlines Group Ltd. (“Trendlines”) (SGX: 42T; OTCQX: TRNLY), is pleased to announce that its newly-formed fund, Trendlines Agrifood Fund Pte. Ltd. (“the Fund”), has made its first investment, investing in Equinom Ltd, (“Equinom”) a seed breeding technology business.
Awareness of the agrifood industry’s impact on climate change is a growing global priority. Technological solutions will be a major driver and critical component of change and development in the agrifood industry and this represents a major opportunity for the Fund. Equinom’s unique non-GMO technology, which optimizes seed functionality to increase plant yield, higher nutritional value, disease resistance and more, is an ideal fit with the Fund’s focus and strategy. The Trendlines Agrifood Fund is investing US$1.6 million (of an US$10 million round) alongside lead investor BASF Venture Capital, the investment arm of global materials and chemical company BASF, as well as existing investors Fortissimo Capital, a leading Israeli private equity fund, and Roquette, a global leader in plant-based ingredients for food, nutrition and health markets and a pioneer in new vegetable proteins.
The agriculture and food sectors are facing enormous challenges to provide enough nutritious food for a growing population, without destroying the planet’s resources. The utilization of technology is key to providing sustainable solutions to these challenges. Equinom leverages traditional crossbreeding with computational genetic algorithms to develop new, highly strategic seed and legume varieties with unmatched accuracy and at significantly higher speeds. Their bioinformatics-based technology accelerates seed breeding, achieving new levels of productivity to enable the creation of high-protein crops for sustainable plant proteins.
Trendlines previously announced that it intends to invest 66% of the Fund’s capital in commercial or growth stage companies.
News of this announcement appeared in Globes , AgFunderNews, NoCamels, World Grain , PRnewsand The Business Times
Investing in more sustainable food production systems that mitigate climate change is paramount in tackling the challenges of this century caused by climate change. Our investment in Trendlines and in the Agrifood Fund represents our firm belief in the potential of technologies in the agrifood portfolio to have a profound positive impact on the global food production footprint. This comes at a time when our plant’s environment is changing so dramatically and the need for sustainable solutions in the production of food is so great.
Vincent Tchenguiz, British entrepreneur and key investor in the Fund
The Fund’s investment in Equinom corresponds with our investment focus to invest in growth stage companies that have the potential to make a real difference to yields, nutritional value, and sustainability of crops. Equinom’s technology and products has the potential to meet all these criteria.
Nitza Kardish, PhD, CEO, Trendlines Agrifood Fund
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