CNT Tech to Invest 21.5 Billion Won in Agricultural and Food Startups in 2024

Accelerator CNTTECH (CEO Jeon Hwa-seong, CNTTECH) continued its ‘big hand’ in the agricultural and food startup sector in 2024.

CNT Tech announced that it invested in around 20 agricultural and food startups in cooperation with government ministries and local governments over the past year. This is through government and local government startup support projects such as the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency’s ‘Agricultural and Food Accelerator Fostering Support’ project, which has been in operation for many years, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s ‘Youth Cook Food Tech Center’ project.

Investments were made by selecting excellent companies in fields such as bio-healthcare, food tech, eco-tech, and pet tech.

In the bio healthcare sector, ▲Dots Corporation (CEO Choi Young-jun) development of global wellness health tech brands for each life cycle, 'Canteen Nine', 'Surf Day', and 'Ouznary' ▲EX Healthcare (CEO Lee Yong-hee) world's first skin exosome miRNA (microRNA) boosting technology-based global plant-based healthcare cream brand 'DermaFIT' ▲Algocare (CEO Jeong Ji-won) AI-based customized nutrition healthcare service ▲Topolab (CEO Kim Hyeok) development of molecular farming platform for mass production of rare food and pharmaceutical raw materials based on plant tissue culture ▲Grindda (CEO Hwang Gyu-yong) production of biofuel energy and plastic raw materials through recycling of fried crumbs ▲Power Player (CEO Kim Yu-jae) operation of eco-friendly clean beauty brand 'Ongredients' based on organic plant raw materials

In the AgTech sector, ▲Aguni (CEO Kwon Mi-jin) is developing a positive pressure organic farming plant factory based on air dome and Growide ▲Rowayne (CEO Lee Kyung-ha) is developing a vertical farming IntelliFarm solution based on an autonomous transport robot ▲Modern (CEO Yeo Chang-eun) is producing and distributing high value-added GABA tomatoes and stevia tomatoes ▲GSF System (CEO Kim Deok-heung) is building a smart plant cultivation factory and operating a smart farm brand 'Mine Farm' based on an automation solution ▲Turbine Crew (CEO Jeon Ki-eun) is developing an artificial intelligence-based smart green energy solution and agricultural drone platform.

In the food tech sector, ▲ Slunch Factory (CEO Lee Hyun-ah) operates a vegan restaurant based on a vegan recipe using soft tofu byproducts and exports Korean-style vegan food overseas ▲ Farmkit (CEO Yang Seon-heung) operates 'Food Q', a food recommendation and marketing solution based on artificial intelligence and big data ▲ Romanceive (CEO Lee Su-hyeon) develops and distributes 'COZA', a drinkable sleep tech sleep drink ▲ Grain Bank (CEO Ahn Hoon-min) recommends rice varieties and blends grains according to lifestyle and health status ▲ Deep Smart Tech (CEO Kim Ho-yeon) uses polymer thin film deposition to create plant-based eco-friendly packaging coating technology ▲ FL Company (CEO Lee Jong-hyeok) manufactures global convenience foods based on Korean-style spicy powdered soup ▲ The Barun Company (CEO Jeon Myeong-jun) operates 'The Barun Rice Cake', a global Korean rice cake brand without preservatives and emulsifiers ▲ Lipiz (CEO Song Jeong-soo) B2B portion-type food and beverage RTD service for self-employed people and kitchen simplification solution ▲ Anyites World (CEO (Kwon Soon-cheol) Unmanned food sales solution based on IoT and big data

Other pet tech fields include ▲Pritz Crew (CEO Oh Se-il) operating the reservation and customer management solution platform 'TP' for pet kindergartens, hotels, beauty salons, and hospitals and the app 'Hello TT' for pet guardians ▲Biolinks (CEOs Jo Min-geun and Kim Jin-yeop) operating the cell-based animal replacement test evaluation platform, etc.

With this, CNT Tech announced that it has invested a total of 21.5 billion won in 117 startups in 2024 alone, in addition to the agricultural and food sectors. It has achieved the feat of setting the industry record for the largest investment for five consecutive years with a total of 485 cases. Among them, the proportion of early-stage startups is about 80%, showing that it is actively leading the way in activating the ecosystem.

In addition, by matching a total of 79 companies with the TIPS program at the same time as the investment, it set the industry record for the most in a year. Cumulatively, a total of 233 TIPS were selected. TIPS is a private investment-led technology startup support program hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Selected companies can receive up to 700 million won in additional government subsidies. Since it is a structure in which private investment organizations must directly recommend startups after investing in them, it is considered an indicator of competitiveness among accelerators.

Meanwhile, CNT Tech plans to take the lead in driving the industry this year by actively investing in startups covering the agricultural and food sectors.

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