Biotechnology Startups In Malaysia & Singapore
Introduction
Malaysia
Blanketed by an abundance of natural resources and biodiversity in the combination of forest, river, and marine, Malaysia is one of the few mega-diverse countries in the globe, housing a majority of Earth's species along with a number of endemic species. By virtue of its nature and unique climate, Malaysia has much to offer for the sustainable development movement, with efforts primarily focused on Agricultural Biotechnology. The Malaysian government had also identified and made efforts in advancing the country into directions of both healthcare and industrial biotechnology.
Singapore
Although well-known as a high-tech manufacturing and global service hub, the geological traits of Singapore had drastically changed over the decades, with a notable example being how Singapore was once 95% covered in rainforests, but was built over along with natural beaches in Singapore’s land reclamation plan to extend cities. In the pursuit of global economic advantages, the Singapore government rushed to embrace entrepreneurial science as the national wealth engine- With focuses set on majorly Life Sciences, which falls under Healthcare Biotechnology.
Common Agriculture Biotech Trend In Both Countries
Black Soldier Fly
All biotechnology companies, startups and ventures utilising this methodology are also known as BSF Tech.
Native to the Neotropical realm (South America), the Hermetia Illucens is identified by scientists as a mimicry of the typical houseflies. A point of intrigue exists in how adult Black Soldier Flies almost exclusively consume flower nectar. Females, as a detritivore and coprovore, are attracted to rotting food or manure, which will lay around 400~600 eggs.
BSF is popular as a low cost method to convert biomass into protein source. The harvested pupae and prepupae are cultivated for consumption for poultry, fish, pigs, lizards, turtles, and even canines. Other than consumption, the BSF larvae may be extracted for chitin, which holds a variety of applications in agrotechnology, waste water treatment and purification, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical fields. The unconsumed larvae also produce frass- A granulated, odourless residue of great value that can be used for organic fertiliser.
Although identified as a form of insect protein, BSF protein has to date remained largely unsafe for direct human consumption.
The global market for BSF Tech was worth 128 Million US Dollars in the year 2019, and was projected to reach 3.4 Billion US Dollars by 2030.
Top Agriculture BioTech Startups in Malaysia
Plant Cartridge
Total Funding Acquired: 3 Million USD
Founded: 2016, Selangor
Plant Cartridge is an agritech company that offers sustainable agriculture solutions. They provide hardware and software for controlled environment agriculture, including seed, germination, irrigation, and nutrient management systems, including an integrated farm-operating system for crops such as leafy vegetables, fruits, or tuberous plants.
Saturn Agtech
Total Funding Acquired: 1.5 Million USD
Founded: 2018, Johor
Saturn Agtech is the leading CEA (controlled environment agriculture) company focusing on the ASEAN market. Saturn strives to provide pesticide-free, sustainable and affordable vegetables & fruits supplies via continuous innovations in Agtech.
DAdvance Agarwood Solutions
Total Funding Acquired: 1.9 Million MYR (around 412k USD)
Founded: 2019, Kuala Lumpur
DAdvance Agarwood Solutions is a Malaysian agarwood biotech company in bio-serum engineering for agarwood inoculation.
Entomal Biotech
Total Funding Acquired: 10k MYR (around 2.1k USD)
Founded: 2021, Selangor
A company that strives to create a circular food system by using Black Soldier Fly (BSF) technology, a solution for biowaste treatment while providing perfect sustainable protein, away from unsustainable protein sources that have severe impacts on our environment.
Notable Agriculture BioTech Startups in Malaysia
Global Cerah
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2020, Sabah
Global Cerah’s proprietary sustainable solution starts with treating agricultural waste collected and removes acidic elements in the waste before upcycles back into protein production through of black soldier flies’ larvae, operating on automated integration for waste disposal without environmental damage.
Farmy
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2021, Kuala Lumpur
Redefining the farmer industry with indoor vertical hydroponic farming systems for producing sustainable microgreens.
Urban Farm Tech
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2018, Selangor
Urban Farm Tech (UFT) pledge to provide safer and healthier alternatives to the commercial food supply chain through urban farming in the form of aquaponics, vertical farming, modular systems & indoor farming solutions.
Top Agriculture BioTech Startups in Singapore
Olam Agri
Total Funding Acquired: 4 Billion USD
Founded: 2021, Central Region
Olam Agri offers food, feed and fibre in high-growth emerging markets with proven expertise, processing capabilities.
Wilmar International
Total Funding Acquired: 200 Million USD
Founded: 1991, Central Region
Wilmar International is an agricultural company that sells palm, lauric oils, oleochemicals, palm biodiesel, and consumer pack oils. Their business activities include oil palm cultivation, oilseed crushing, manufacturing of consumer products, biodiesel, fertilisers, and rice milling. They provide management practices including field, harvesting,and application of fertilisers to crop yields.
Nutrition Technologies
Total Funding Acquired: 34 Million USD
Founded: 2015, Central Region
Nutrition Technologies manufactures protein, oil and organic fertiliser from Black Soldier Fly larvae for a greener and healthier future.
Entobel
Total Funding Acquired: 33.3 Million USD
Founded: 2013, Central Region
Entobel has developed a bioconversion model based on what nature has done for millions of years. By converting low-value biomass into high grade products thanks to the Black Soldier Fly, Entobel technology represents the missing link in our global food chain.
Common Healthcare Biotech Trend In Both Countries
Bioinformatics
Bringing together elements such as molecular biology, genetics and biological studies with computational science, statistics and maths, Bioinformatics is a newly defined field in Biotechnology that sees its origin as early as the 1990s.
Bioinformatics uses developed original softwares, algorithms and databases to solve many biological experimentations and problems. This process is referred to as in silico, which means performing on computer via computer simulation. This has been a great aid in reducing time, wet lab practice and monetary costs, while also helping in storing large data with lesser space.
The field has reached immense heights of growth in biological sciences and research, which mainly includes gene and protein identification, drug development & design, gene/protein folding and complexity, organism identification, vaccine design, structural & functional prediction, and more.
The global market for Bioinformatics was worth 13.2 Billion US Dollars in the year 2021, and was projected to reach 15.3 Billion US Dollars by 2030.
Top Healthcare BioTech Startups in Malaysia
ALPS Global Holdings Berhad
Total Funding Acquired: 9.9 Million USD
Founded: 2017, Kuala Lumpur
ALPS Global Holding Berhad is a biotech company that specialises in research, medical, and wellness services. The company has evolved into a modern, preferred Asia Pacific medical tourism destination, offering specialised boutique anti-aging medical and wellness centres for today's modern consumer seeking to look and feel good, both aesthetically and medically, for posterity.
BioGenes Technologies
Total Funding Acquired: 7.1 Million USD
Founded: 2015, Negeri Sembilan
Biogenes is a medical device startup utilising Biogenes’ patented aptamer technologies to build diagnostic devices for infectious diseases. Biogenes' new method allows for high volume production of diagnostic kits at a low cost.
Ain Medicare
Total Funding Acquired: 20 Million MYR (around 4.3 Million USD)
Founded: 1993, Kelantan
Ain Medicare is a manufacturer of reliable and high-quality pharmaceutical products. Ain Medicare's products include large- and small-volume parenteral, irrigation solutions, hemodialysis concentrates, and peritoneal dialysis solutions. Ain Medicare's products have gained international recognition and are used by both the private and public health care sectors, as well as non-profit healthcare providers in Malaysia and around the world.
Novocraft Technologies
Total Funding Acquired: 800k USD
Founded: 2008, Kuala Lumpur
Novocraft Technologies Sdn. Bhd. is an avid group of Bioinformaticians, software developers and statisticians working with the full range of next generation sequencing platforms.
With culmination of over 8 years of experience in software development and performance tuning; bioinformatics research and high-performance computing, Novocraft builds proprietary software for bioinformatics solutions, bioinformatics analysis platforms as well as provide consultancy and training.
Notable Healthcare BioTech Startups in Malaysia
Clinipath
Total Funding Acquired: 7 Million MYR (around USD)
Founded: 1994, Selangor
Clinipath (M) Sdn. Bhd. is a clinical pathology laboratory that offers a complete range of services with over 1,200 tests generally under immunology, microbiology, histopathology, hematology, cytology and biochemistry at a competitive pricing throughout Malaysia.
Longe Medikal
Total Funding Acquired: 255k USD
Founded: 2016, Selangor
A medical technology startup innovating clinical practice in image guided procedures. Using patient specific data, Longe Medikal develops high fidelity patient specific organ replicas for rehearsal of image guided procedures, pre-procedure planning, post-procedure evaluation, simulation for medical devices and training. The patient specific solution is compatible to be used with any angiography system and compatible with the majority of available medical devices in the market.
Furley Bioextracts
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2005, Selangor
A biotechnology company that offers turn-key solutions, from concept to mass market for Supplements, Food, Cosmetics, Traditional Gels/Creams, and Class A Medical Devices. House brands include Spray8 Wound Care, proven to heal diabetic wounds 3 times faster; and the Ostania Mangosteen brand of beverages and capsules, the highest antioxidant with immune-boosting effects currently available in the Malaysian Market.
Top Healthcare BioTech Startups in Singapore
TauRx Pharmaceuticals
Total Funding Acquired: 376.5 Million USD
Founded: 2002, Central Region
TauRx Therapeutics Ltd was established with the aim of developing new treatments and diagnostics for a range of neurodegenerative diseases based on a new approach, which targets aggregates of abnormal fibres of Tau protein that form inside nerve cells in the brain. The TauRx team have since discovered that LMTX™ could also have beneficial effects in several other neurodegenerative diseases associated with Tau pathology, as well as other protein aggregation disorders including Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Frontotemporal Dementia (Pick’s Disease). While TauRx headquarters are in Singapore, its primary research facilities are in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Tessa Therapeutics
Total Funding Acquired: 256 Million USD
Founded: 2001, Central Region
Tessa Therapeutics is a provider of therapy designed to focus on T cell therapy for solid tumours. The company's therapy specialises in developing virus specific T-cells and CAR T cells for the treatment of lymphoma, enabling healthcare providers to treat cancer patients and improve their lives.
ASLAN Pharmaceuticals
Total Funding Acquired: 181 Million USD
Founded: 2010, Central Region
ASLAN is a pharmaceutical company that develops novel medicines for global markets. It specialises in clinical-stage immunology and oncology-focused biopharmaceuticals.
MiRXES
Total Funding Acquired: 168 Million USD
Founded: 2014, Central Region
MiRXES offers discover, develop, and deliver accurate preventive healthcare solutions for cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic and infectious diseases, and make them accessible to all.
Common Industrial Biotech Trends In Both Countries
Waste Management & Minimisation
Waste management is intended to reduce the adverse effects of waste on human health, the environment, planetary resources and aesthetics.
With the globe’s annual increase in population comes an annual increase of waste- An issue of which is treated with utmost importance by country leaders all across the globe.
An egregious part of the waste generated on a daily basis comes in the form of food waste- 30% of the global food supply goes to waste annually, which is equivalent to loses around 1 Trillion US Dollars, not simply just in value alone, but also a waste of intangible resources such as land, water, energy, and fertiliser.
That is not to say that general waste is not a pressing issue in itself; especially in consideration of the lingering effects the COVID 19 Pandemic left in its wake. People are more open to the notion of purchasing things online, which greatly involves the use of packing materials- Which more often than not is strictly non-reusable, goes straight to the landfill, and emits poisonous gas upon incineration.
One of the opportunities that arose from the context of waste management comes in the form of waste minimisation, where redesigned products aim to reduce or eliminate the production of harmful and persistent wastes to promote a more sustainable society.
The global market for waste management & minimisation was worth 1612 Billion US Dollars in the year 2020, but projected to reach 2438 Billion US Dollars by 2030.
Top Industrial BioTech Startups in Malaysia
Beebag
Total Funding Acquired: 453k MYR (around 98k USD)
Founded: 2022, Selangor
Beebag employs gamification and cutting-edge technology through Sustainability Rewarding App and Smart Reusable Bags to assist customers in developing long-term purchasing habits.
Emergence RISE
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2020, Selangor
Originally Emergence Innovative focusing on becoming Malaysia’s Electronic Vehicle charging station service provider. Currently expanded into an Artificial Intelligence & Deeptech Entrepreneur with a diverse portfolio.
Seadling
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2018, Sabah
Seadling is a seaweed biotech company that accelerates seaweed farming.
Life Origin
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2019, Negeri Sembilan
Life Origin is a biotech company that converts traceable waste into protein, fuel, and fertiliser.
Notable Industrial BioTech Startups in Malaysia
Energreen Tech
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2022, Selangor
As a renewable energy startup through EV, second life batteries, energy management, & customised solutions, Energreen Tech focuses on bringing excellent and high-quality products by leveraging on in-house innovative technology to shape the future of the green energy industry in Malaysia.
Bumi Gemilang Oils (BGOILS)
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2011, Selangor
BGOILS began as a small enterprise that trades and manufactures engineering parts and tools for palm oil mills and RBD refineries. Today, BGOILS has evolved into an ISCC certified biodiesel & HVO refineries feedstock supplying refinery.
Collaborative Excellence
Funding Undisclosed
Founded: 2012, Selangor
Collaborative Excellence, stylised ColleXe, aims to elevate the operational model of waste management services through tech-led transformation and sustainability measures.
Top Industrial BioTech Startups in Singapore
RWDC Industries
Total Funding Acquired: 263 Million USD
Founded: 2015, Central Region
RWDC develops biodegradable bioplastic that can be used to make cutlery, drinking straws and cup lids, food and beverage packaging, as well as diapers, among other things. It produces medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate(mcl-PHA), which are naturally produced by bacterial fermentation of plant-based oils or sugar. RWDC’s PHA is certified to be fully biodegradable in soil, water and marine conditions.
800 Super Holdings
Total Funding Acquired: 304 Million SGD (around 225 Million USD)
Founded: 1985, Central Region
800 Super is a locally owned and operated environmental services company that offers waste management and waste treatment, cleaning, conservation, and horticultural services. Its waste management services include residential, commercial, and industrial waste collection and recycling.
FJ Dynamics
Total Funding Acquired: 84.1 Million USD
Founded: 2017, Central Region
FJ Dynamics is a robotics company focusing on digitization, automation and new energy. At present, their technology has been widely applied across precision agriculture, digital construction, geospatial, electrical, etc. The company has R&D and operation centres in Singapore, U.S., Sweden, mainland China, and Hong Kong.
Umitron
Total Funding Acquired: 22.1 Million USD
Founded: 2016, Central Region
Umitron is a data company for aquaculture. We support fish farmers to increase productivity through data analytics. One of the biggest challenges in aquaculture is increasing feeding cost. We optimise feed amount and timing by using fish behaviour analytics and water quality data. Our goal is to "install Sustainable Aquaculture on Earth".
