Hong Kong Startup News Roundup - 20 December 2020

TurtleTree Labs Closes Oversubscribed US$6.2M Pre-A Round For Lab-Grown Breast Milk

Announced today (December 17), TurtleTree Labs has raised US$6.2 million in an oversubscribed Pre-A funding round. The round saw participation from major global alternative protein investors, including Green Monday Ventures, the investment arm of Hong Kong’s plant-based group behind OmniFoods and Green Common; Vancouver-based future foods investment issuer Eat Beyond Global; Saudi Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud’s KBW Ventures; and Verso Capital, who lists Impossible Foods and Eat Just amongst its portfolio companies. 

The biotech, which currently has offices in both Singapore and San Francisco, says it will use the funding to scale its research and production of “functional, bioactive proteins and complex sugars” within human milk using cellular agriculture technology. According to TurtleTree Labs, these components could have value in benefiting gut and brain health, making them suitable for applications in both infant and senior nutrition. 

Hong Kong based Foodtech startup Avant and Israeli Edutech startup TinyTap close over $1m on AngelHub

Hong Kong’s first and only licensed startup investment platform AngelHub today announces that it has closed two more fundraising rounds for more than $US 1,000,000. With Avant raising its seed funding round of US$ 3,000,000 and TinyTap raising their growth round of US$ 2,000,000, AngelHub saw participation from their crowd of professional investors, reiterating the interest in FoodTech and Edutech amongst investors around the world.

The global cultured meat market alone will be valued at US$214 million by 2025, growing to US$593 million by 2032, according to a report published by MarketsandMarkets, reiterated by the rising interest of professional investors on AngelHub. Notable investors for Avant include China Venture Capital, ParticleX, as well as global leading alternative protein venture capital firms Lever VC, CPT Capital, Artesian, Loyal VC and 208 Seed Ventures.

TinyTap, Scaleup from the startup nation, Israel, looks to Asia for expansion. Notable investors for TinyTap include Israeli VCs Inimiti Capital Partners and Aleph.

Strong investor demand keeps Hong Kong IPO market on boil

New Hong Kong share offerings for the final three months of the year are seeing strong demand from investors who are pushing prices to stratospheric levels when the IPOs debut, giving hope to scores of other companies lining up to list early next year.

Property manager China Resources Mixc Lifestyle surged as much as 48% on its debut on Wednesday after it raised $1.6 billion in its initial public offering. The shares closed at HK$28, up 25.6% from their IPO price of HK$22.30.

Meanwhile, Chinese detergent maker Blue Moon Group Holdings priced its IPO at HK$13.16, the top of the range at which they were marketed, to raise $1.3 billion after the offer drew heavy bids, two people familiar with the deal said.

The latest developments follow Tuesday's 56% opening-day gain for JD Health International, the city's largest IPO so far this year. The online health care unit of e-commerce company JD.com also priced its $3.5 billion offering at the top of the indicative range after its retail offer drew applications from nearly one in 10 Hong Kong people.