36Kr Exclusive | Singrow Completes Series A Financing of Millions of US Dollars, Led by Cyan Hill Partners and Finc International

36Kr learned that "Singrow Agriculture" recently completed a Series A financing of millions of dollars. This round was led by Castle Peak Capital and Finc International, with old shareholders such as AgFunder and Ritz Venture Partners following up. The funds from this round will be mainly used for technology R & D, market expansion, etc.

"Singrow Agriculture" (hereinafter referred to as "Singrow") was established in Singapore in 2019. Relying on its core technological advantages in the field of molecular breeding, the team screens and develops crop varieties that break through the limitations of climate and environment. Currently, its "climate - tolerant" strawberries already have multiple mature varieties and have been commercialized in many places such as Singapore, China, Indonesia, and Thailand. Based on more advantageous crop varieties, Singrow's business covers the entire chain from seedlings, planting solutions to agricultural operation and sales management.

On September 1st this year, Heng Swee Keat, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore, led a delegation to visit China. The first stop was Guangzhou, and on the same day, he visited Singrow's modern strawberry seed industry base. In the subsequent negotiation session, Heng Swee Keat also specifically mentioned his visiting experience, "Singapore is not an agricultural country, but thanks to the cooperation with China, we have been able to develop and apply this technology, and now we can even promote it to other regions around the world."

Dr. Bao Shengjie, the founder of Singrow, studied Applied Biological Sciences (Agriculture direction) at Zhejiang University, Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics at North Carolina State University in the United States, and the National University of Singapore. He has more than 10 years of R & D experience and project experience in the fields of plant physiology, molecular biology, crop breeding and gene editing. In 2015, he noticed the demand in the Singaporean strawberry market and devoted his main energy to screening strawberry varieties that can bloom at high temperatures, and Singrow's business has since expanded.

Starting from strawberries, make delicious strawberries no longer restricted by temperature difference and region

Globally, the cultivation, growth, and sales of strawberries seem to be extremely mature, but actually there are some long - unmet demands behind.

Classifying the mainstream strawberries in the global market, they can be roughly divided into two categories. In places such as China, Japan, and South Korea, most are "seasonal strawberries", also known as "short - day strawberries" or "Japanese - style strawberries". In most other regions, including North America, Australia, and many European countries, "ever - bearing strawberries" are the main type. The latter is the mainstream choice in current agricultural industrial production. It has a relatively hard texture, a long shelf life, and is suitable for long - distance transportation, but it often lacks sweetness and is often used for cake decoration in China and usually needs to be eaten with sugar.

"So when Chinese people go abroad, it's actually difficult for them to accept foreign strawberries." Bao Shengjie's personal experience resonates with many overseas Chinese and international students.

After arriving in Singapore in 2013, Bao Shengjie realized the difference between the local strawberry market and the domestic one. In later research, he found that one of the main reasons why "Japanese - style strawberries" are mainly grown in East Asia is the flowering process. Most varieties of "Japanese - style strawberries" respond to low temperatures during the flowering process and require an environment with a large temperature difference, that is, high temperatures during the day and a significant drop in temperature at night. In addition, these strawberries are relatively soft and not suitable for long - distance transportation, resulting in a very "historical" market deviation, that is, there are almost no "Japanese - style strawberries" in Europe and America.

"The market has a demand for high - end strawberries, but most regions do not have the planting conditions, so we went to screen strawberry varieties that are heat - tolerant, easy to grow, and sweet." Bao Shengjie told 36Kr.

Using molecular breeding methods for "flowering time regulation" was Bao Shengjie's "old profession" during his studies at the National University of Singapore, and it is also Singrow's advantage in the process of screening strawberry varieties - screening out varieties that are more likely to bloom at high temperatures, making their flavor, taste, and habits similar to "Japanese - style strawberries", but with different flowering characteristics.

Currently, strawberries are Singrow's most mature business, accounting for more than 80% of the revenue, and there are already 8 varieties with different colors and flavors. Among them, some varieties can bloom and bear fruit normally in an environment with a minimum temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, which is much more lenient than the original "8 - 10 degrees Celsius" condition.

Since 2023, Singrow has started to expand the Chinese market along two lines of thinking - one is the off - season summer cultivation of strawberries, and the other is to provide full - process "plant factory" services from seedlings to planting solutions, downstream procurement management, and sales channels.

In the domestic market, it is difficult to achieve low - temperature conditions at night in summer. The supply of strawberries is scarce, and most of them come from high - altitude areas such as Aba and Daliangshan in Sichuan. The planting and transportation costs are higher, and the yield is also low, resulting in prices several times higher than those of seasonal strawberries. There is also very little strawberry supply from the end of May to the beginning of December every year.

This "blank period" brings a scarce market, which means opportunities. After planting strawberries in Shaanxi for a year and a half, Singrow currently has an average yield per mu of about 3000 catties of commercial fruits, and the test planting results in Hebei, Shandong, Beijing and other places are also good. In addition to special varieties, Singrow is also carrying out traditional field planting in areas with suitable climate conditions.

In recent years, many domestic and foreign agricultural companies have smelled the opportunity and carried out off - season strawberry cultivation in places such as Dali, Yunnan. The domestic summer strawberry market is described by Bao Shengjie as a "window market" - the opportunities for early - movers may be gradually diluted.

However, Singrow has greater ambitions in the Chinese market. "We hope to form an overall alliance for summer strawberry cultivation in the northwest, which can not only supply the domestic market but also group for exports." Bao Shengjie believes that in Southeast Asia, local strawberry cultivation is often highly lacking, and the import demand is extremely high, but "there is still a lot of room for China's strawberry exports, and the right to speak is not high enough."

Three major main businesses, and two circular factories have their "representative significance"

Overall, Singrow's key businesses can be divided into three parts:

One is the cultivation and sales of "climate - tolerant" strawberries. Besides strawberries, relying on the core advantage of "flowering time regulation", Singrow is also expanding crop categories. The second relatively mature one is "saffron" - by artificially intervening in the flowering time, the saffron planting cycle is shortened. Next, Singrow will have several saffron projects launched.

Two is the full - set solution for plant factories. Singrow provides a complete set of plant factory solutions for potential customers according to local conditions, covering seedlings, planting solutions, sales, operation management and other links. The cooperation partners only participate in providing the initial infrastructure investment, and Singrow undertakes the operation function, and the two parties share dividends respectively. In the future, Singrow will promote this model mainly in the Middle East and North America.

Three is planting services. In the past R & D and operation, Singrow has accumulated a large number of methods for observing plant growth status. Combined with the tracking of key genes, it can more digitally and objectively judge the growth trend of crops in a certain plantation, and then provide agricultural decision - making assistance services. This business currently has major customers in Indonesia and Hainan, China.

It is particularly worth mentioning that Singrow is building two representative circular plant factories in Singapore and Houston, USA.

Taking the under - construction factory in Singapore as an example, the team integrates mushroom production and strawberry cultivation into one scenario, forming a circular agriculture model - the high carbon emissions from mushroom production can form on - site carbon sequestration, and the cold air brought by the high carbon dioxide concentration can be used as a "free cold source" and "free carbon dioxide gas fertilizer" for strawberry cultivation. While reducing the carbon emissions of mushroom cultivation and increasing the strawberry production speed, it also reduces the growth cost.

According to Singrow's calculation, the factory is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. After it is put into production, the market price of strawberries is expected to reach S$15 - 17 per kilogram, which means it will be lower than the current price of imported strawberries in Singapore. In a high - price market like Singapore, achieving a lower price through extreme production efficiency may be a representative event in the field of plant factories.

By opening a plant factory in Houston, USA, Singrow will directly compete with Oishii, the most well - known strawberry plant factory company in the local area. But Bao Shengjie told 36Kr that due to the looser requirements for the climate environment and the circular nature of Singrow's plant factory model, the operating cost will be about 60% lower than that of Oishii.

Going to broader areas: the Middle East and Southeast Asia will be the focus

In terms of revenue contribution, the domestic market is more mature and expanding faster, and it is currently Singrow's main source of revenue.

Bao Shengjie revealed that Singrow will achieve break - even by the end of 2025. Beyond the mature markets in China and Singapore, the team will further expand market areas. Among them, the Middle East and Southeast Asia will be the focus of the next stage for two reasons:

One is that the advantages of new crop varieties are highly matched. Taking the Middle East as an example, restricted by geography, climate, etc., the supply capacity of local high - end fruits and vegetables is relatively low. However, Singrow can build local production conditions "from impossible to possible" with its climate - tolerant varieties and create new supplies.

Two is that the commercialization of plant factories will have more benefits. In recent years, regions such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia have continuously invested in power facilities, and the power generation cost will gradually decrease. Plant factories can naturally be an excellent solution to solve local agricultural production.

In terms of the team, in addition to the founder Bao Shengjie, CHEN Huakai, the market leader, graduated from the Singapore Management University (SMU) with a bachelor's degree. He was a member of the Singaporean special forces during his military service in Singapore. Due to his family's operation of one of the largest fruit and vegetable import and export trading companies in Singapore, he has been exposed to fruit and vegetable trading since childhood. Other core members also have rich experience in overseas investment institutions, overseas resource docking, agricultural planting and other fields.