Bits x Bites, China’s first agrifood tech VC, has completed the final close of its second fund at US $100M, exceeding its target previously announced with the first close in 2020. 

With a focus on the underserved subsegments in the Chinese food supply chain, the Shanghai-based fund has attracted a group of prestigious and vision-aligned backers. New investors include industry leaders from Syngenta Group Ventures to Adisseo, an animal nutrition company, and Cavallo Ventures, the venture capital arm of Wilbur-Ellis, to Esco Lifesciences. They also include government-supported investment arms such as DisruptAD, the venture platform of ADQ, based in Abu Dhabi; and other reputable financial institutions and family offices. Continued support comes from Temasek, a global investment company headquartered in Singapore. 

Since its first close, Bits x Bites has invested in seven new portfolios advancing solutions to address challenges from agricultural input to farm automation to protein alternatives. Four of the new portfolios are Chinese companies. They are:

• EAVision: An agricultural drone company specialized in autonomous crop protection particularly in mountainous farming and other complex terrains. Bits x Bites co-led the investment with Temasek and Chinese state-sponsored fund CITIC. 

• Mojia Bio: A biomanufacturing company producing nutrients for the feed and food industries. Its proprietary process increases yield and limits by-product and environmental pollution associated with conventional chemical synthesis, fitting directly into China’s carbon neutrality goal for 2060. 

• A stealth mode precision agriculture company that has developed crop simulation models to help farmers boost yields, optimize inputs, and increase profits. It is China’s first company with a commercial crop growth model, an important step to increase production efficiency in agriculture. 

• A stealth mode precision fermentation startup developing microbial protein for dairy and meat alternative applications. The company is selected for its production technology to reduce product and environmental costs as well as its knowledge in downstream applications. 

“The appeal of agrifood investing for the Chinese market goes beyond its mammoth role in the global supply chain or its vibrant tech activities in AI/ML and biotech,” says Matilda Ho, founder and managing director, Bits x Bites. “What is often overlooked is this tech ecosystem’s relentless drive toward cost-based innovations, building solutions to fuel efficiency and to make sustainable and healthy ingredient options more affordable. We believe there has never been a better time to be investing in agrifood for China, and we couldn’t be more pleased with our LPs’ support for our strategy.” 

Focusing on pre-A to Series B companies, Bits x Bites annually screens close to 1,200 startups, roughly half of which being local Chinese companies. To support its growing Chinese pipeline and portfolio, the team has added a new senior advisor Liu Shi, Executive Vice President at Chinese agricultural conglomerate Dabeinong Technology Group. 

With the new fund, Bits x Bites has also invested in several brand new international portfolios. They include Singapore’s Next Gen, the company behind TiNDLE plant-based chicken. Two herbicide discovery companies—MoA in the UK and Enko Chem in the US—combat the resistance and overuse of existing products, both particularly daunting challenges in Chinese agriculture.