“In 2022, we made substantial strides in advancing global startup ecosystems, achieving growth milestones, and driving meaningful impact across global communities. With over 300 companies accelerated, 53 investments made, and thousands of applications received, Brinc solidified its position as a leader in the startup ecosystem. The average successful follow-on funding raised by Brinc portfolio companies, meanwhile, reached an all-time high of US$3.48 million, demonstrating a maturing portfolio that is scaling.

“We continued to expand our footprint in 2022, and scale into new industries and verticals, developing a diverse portfolio of investments in emerging markets and industries with a focus on sustainability. To support this growth, we also invested in strengthening our team and leadership, bringing key functions in-house to enable continued expansion. Our introduction of blockchain accelerator programs marked a new chapter, with 38 investments made; and our network expanded by 138 mentors, including industry leaders from around the world.

“As we look to the future, we remain steadfast in our mission to develop and invest in innovative technologies, including blockchain and Web3, and sustainable solutions that are crucial to our planet. Our investment strategy prioritizes startups with strong infrastructure, deep technological roots, and a clear plan for success in dynamic markets. We will continue to exercise patience, selectivity, and a focus on deep tech companies that can drive groundbreaking impact; while our accelerators will serve as a valuable tool to evaluate startups and identify potential winners. With a growing, diverse portfolio across verticals (with founders from 39 countries) and expanding resources, we remain poised to weather market cycles and ensure long-term success for our portfolio companies and their founders.

“With gratitude, we extend our heartfelt thanks to our invaluable network of corporate, investor, and government partners and mentors. Your contributions have made it possible for us to make a real difference in communities around the world. As we celebrate the end of 2022 with 204 portfolio companies (up from 154 at the end of 2021), we remain dedicated to our mission of investing in 1,000 companies within the decade. Thank you for your unwavering support to developing startup ecosystems, and here’s to another exciting year of growth and impact!”

Manav Gupta (Founder & CEO)

 

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Please note this is a pretty long overview of Brinc’s activities in 2022 and is accurate at the time of posting. If you are looking for something particular, please scroll down based on the Contents below. Otherwise, you are encouraged to spend some time learning about the game-changing founders Brinc worked with over the year by reading this publication in its entirety.

 

Contents

Brinc’s 2022 at a Glance
Investment Round-Up
Notable Mentions of Brinc Portfolio Companies
Brinc Highlights and Announcements
Events, Keynotes, and Panels
Brinc Team 2022 Highlights

 

Brinc’s 2022 at a Glance

In 2022, Brinc:

• Hosted and participated in 80+ events across Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, the USA and more, alongside partners such as Animoca Brands, Enterprise Singapore, the EU, and Green Queen
• Accelerated 300+ companies via both equity and non-equity accelerator programs across 13 accelerator programs globally
• Completed due diligence on 2045 global companies that applied for investment and invested in 53 companies from emerging markets and industries
• Introduced its Web3 and blockchain accelerator, making 38 investments in the space
• Expanded its network by 138 mentors including names like Phil Ingram, CEO at Super Ultra; Luna Javier, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Altitude Games; Hristo Piyankov, Tokenomics Expert at FinDas.org; Carmen Taubman, Global Community Consultant at LinkedIn; and Ginny Radmall, Coach, Speaker and Director of The Ivy Way
• Rose its average post-program funding to US$3.48 million, an increase on the US$2.38 million average that portfolio companies who raised in 2021 received in funding

 

Key Regional Highlights

Hong Kong

• Brinc Hong Kong opened a new office in Cyberport to accommodate its team, which grew in size by over 100%
• Brinc Hong Kong opened a number of sector-focused Web3 accelerator programs with key partners such as Animoca Brands and The Sandbox
• Brinc Hong Kong curated case studies, and performed deal and technology scouting for Fortune 500 corporates

 

India

• Brinc India signed a partnership with Cornerstone Ventures (CSVP) to launch an enterprise business program with a commitment to invest US$4.5 million in enterprise tech startups
• Brinc India signed a partnership with GrowX Ventures to co-invest in Brinc’s Web3 accelerator programs and deals
• Brinc India signed a partnership with Good Food Institute — India (GFI India) and made its first investment in India’s alternative dairy sector by investing in Zero Cow Factory

 

Singapore

• BrincArtesian received its Capital Markets Services License from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to operate as a Venture Capital Fund Manager and secured a partnership with SEEDS Capital for co-investments
• Brinc Singapore announced the China Landing Pad Accelerator for Singaporean startups in the food space looking to enter the Chinese market
• Brinc Singapore secured and announced its partnership with Enterprise Singapore

 

MENA

• Brinc MENA partnered with Beban, Bahrain’s first entrepreneurship-themed reality show, to find the area’s most promising startups
• Brinc MENA launched additional programs in Oman and grew its workforce in Dubai by 75%
• Brinc MENA partnered with numerous institutions including DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre), which will provide Brinc clients with access to funding, knowledge, and networking opportunities in the MENA Web3 space

 

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Investment Round-Up

In 2022, Brinc accelerated 300+ companies via its equity and non-equity programs, and invested in 53 startups across five continents and nine industries. Companies were selected for their potential to grow with guidance from a Brinc program and adherence to Brinc’s mission to make the world more inclusive, sustainable, and equitable.

These game changers seek to help develop sustainable food systems and equitable finance systems, facilitate carbon removal, and broaden the distribution of healthcare solutions, the latter two of which will be focused on more heavily as of 2023 by the Climate Tech, and MedTech and Healthcare verticals, to be introduced in spring 2023.

Brinc continues its strong belief that developing tailored programs across categories supported by world-leading in-house and external mentors, along with relevant corporate and supplier networks, can help accelerate founders’ abilities to work through critical development hurdles and accelerate their go-to-market journeys.

 

FoodTech Businesses Invested in During 2022

abillion (Singapore) — A consumer review platform that aims to make sustainable living easy and fun, and help ‘a billion’ people save the planet by sharing sustainable food, beauty, and fashion tips.

Alt Atlas (United Kingdom) — A manufacturing platform solving cell cultivation scalability challenges using cell lines and smart tools linked to their proprietary AI software that allows users to reach production states faster, in a cost-effective way.

Ambrosia Bio (Israel) — A biotech venture that develops novel enzyme solutions that convert common sugars to various low- to no-calorie rare sugars (e.g. allulose, allose and, tagatose), and dietary fibers in a cost-effective manner.

Biocellion (United States) — A computer modeling company that applies life sciences in order to speed up the commercial development of bioprocesses. They are currently focused on the field of cultivated meat as the improvement of yield from bioreactors is existential for that market.

Bluana (Romania) — A plant-based molecular gastronomy sashimi developer. Their products include plant-based salmon and tuna sashimi.

Cellivate Technologies (Singapore) — A deep-tech startup with proprietary platform technologies and products that enable cellular meat companies to accelerate the growth of cells and meat at different stages of the value chain. As their platform is also translatable to other cell culture applications, they have early customers in the biotech and the stem cell fields.

Good Food Technologies (Hong Kong) — A food company aiming to feed the world by creating tasty, nutritious, affordable, and innovative food products such as AROMAX, essentially a pork fat made from plants. This trademarked ingredient helps with the texture, juiciness, aroma, and translucency of their products.

Jack & Bry (United Kingdom) — Founded in the UK in 2019, Jack & Bry have created a range of plant-based meats all made from Jackfruit. Producing tasty, tender and nutritious alternatives for the meat and fish markets and meeting the global demand for flexitarians and meat-eaters, who are looking to reduce their intake.

Magic Valley (Australia) — A food company developing cultivated meat products in order to meet the future protein demands of the expanding global population. They will be focusing on cultivated lamb products.

Meat the End (MTE) (Israel) — A B2B company producing planet-friendly meat with revolutionary texture. Their patented technology has reinvented traditional extrusion techniques to create real meat quality from plant-based proteins.

Mzansi Meat Co. (South Africa) — A company that aims to develop and scale a cultivated beef product while growing public awareness to meet the rising demand for meat in growing African cities. Also Africa’s first cultivated meat company

ØZERS (France) — A plant-based nutrition product developer that aims to replace unhealthy and non-specific animal proteins, like whey or casein, in athletes’ diets. Through the use of plant-based proteins and microalgae, ØZERS unlocks athletes’ maximal performances without compromising on health, taste and sustainability.

Root Kitchen (United Kingdom) — A producer of 100% plant-based ready meals, aiming to fill Britain’s freezers with a convenient, quality and nutritious vegan alternative to the conventional meal during a busy week.

Umami Meats (Singapore) — A sustainable seafood cultivated meat producer whose cultivated fish is nutritionally equivalent to traditional seafood and provides a delicious culinary experience while protecting oceans, as well as containing no ocean pollutants, and being safe to eat raw.

Zero Cow Factory (India) — A producer of animal-free milk protein and dairy products using bioengineering the microbes and precision fermentation. India’s first animal-free dairy cultivator.

 

Web3 Businesses Invested in During 2022

The 14th Factory (Hong Kong) — A creation-to-exhibit large scale immersive art company that creates exhibits suitable for temporary, touring or permanent installation in both the physical and virtual world. Meaningful spectaculars that are artistically credible as they are accessible to a mass market — created through collaboration with an international array of artists, architects, filmmakers, and composers, with an eye on new technology.

4pDAO (Canada) — A provider of carbon credits and NFT rewards for ESG activities and transactions in carbon marketplaces, unlocking what was restricted to legacy institutions and corporations.

Ajuna Network (Switzerland) — A Swiss-based decentralized gaming platform. Built on Substrate, it leverages the full potential of the Polkadot ecosystem by integrating it with the world’s leading development engines, Unreal and Unity. Ajuna’s ultimate goal is to create real value for both gamers and developers by providing a fully interoperable decentralized ecosystem for games and virtual goods.

Another-1 (Hong Kong) — A one-stop shop to design, produce, crowdfund, and trade digital units of hype fashion backed by physical goods. Repurposing fashion products for metaverse interoperability; Another-1 offers access to a new asset class for a wide audience spanning fashion consumers, gamers and investors.

Aptero (France) — A customized metaverse inside workplace platforms, such as Microsoft Teams or Slack, that can be used as a collaborative tool/virtual campus for company teams.

Artizen (United Kingdom) — A community fund for art, science, and public goods. They make it easy for communities to crowdfund new grants, curate the awards, and earn NFTs from the winning projects.

Bilby AI (Hong Kong) — A RegTech SaaS for investors and businesses in Asia: automatically decodes and translates policies and regulations and assesses their subsequent impact on markets and companies. Currently only available for China and now expanding to other parts of Asia.

Coinmiles (Canada) — A crypto rewards platform that gives Bitcoin rewards to users when they shop online (at over 1,000 partners), in-store (through a unique partnership with Visa and MasterCard) and when they travel at over 900,000 hotels worldwide.

Crayon (South Korea) — A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) based NFT Finance Platform that provides financial instruments for NFT holders and collectors to create various Decentralized Finance (DeFi) strategies and access more money market options such as:

• SubDAO-based collective purchase, trade, sales of NFTs
• NFT collateralized loans
• Fungible Token (FT) collateralized NFT leases/rentals

 

Edge of Company (United States) — A media, events, and tech venture, “Edge Of” launched in 2021 with the Edge of NFT Podcast and has since created the NFT LA conference. NFT LA, hosted March 28–30, 2022 will be the largest Web3 gathering in Southern California, and at over 100 episodes the podcast continues to feature “the top 1% in NFTs today and what will stand the test of time.” Believers in economic structures that value the attention of every participant, the company leverages its three founders’ experiences in various domains including blockchain, fashion, real estate, music, neuroscience, foodtech and high-growth startups to catalyze co-creation in the web3 and NFT space.

Enklu (United States) — An Augmented Reality (AR) cloud platform (and Gold Tier Microsoft MR Partner) that enables users to accelerate 3D development and distribute immersive multi-user apps and content in real-time.

Foundry Six (United States) — A company that created ARealm, an augmented reality MMORPG supported by the blockchain, that allows players to experience battling, crafting, and more through AR technology.

GameVault (United Kingdom) — A decentralized PC game distribution ecosystem. This includes a game NFT marketplace, user libraries, NFT-based DRM, developer accounts and game launcher.

HarmoniXX (Singapore) — A music revolution for Web3, bringing music to the forefront of NFTs and Music Collectibles. Leveraging Proprietary AI Music Engine and Generative Art, they recreate music to establish a new type of Musical NFT that fans and collectors can truly appreciate. They enable Musicians to maximize the monetization of their existing music and to better engage with fans.

Immuse (United States) — An operational intersection of Music, NFTs and the AR Real World Metaverse. Currently in development on a cutting-edge AR music experience with Niantic and Warner Music, Immuse is creating a new paradigm for audio-visual music and fan engagement. For over a decade, the company has created award-winning digital and physical art, murals, sculptures, narrative experiences, bespoke Apps, and more recently, NFTs, with clients and commissions from Google, Qualcomm, Deloitte, Tesla, JW Marriott, SXSW, and many more. Immuse is now developing a global platform for NFT-based audio-visual AR music experiences where fans can actively create, earn and build community in both physical and digital worlds.

Kami (Malaysia) — An interoperable dApp that determines fair value of NFT media based on consumption patterns in its consume-to-earn subscription model for art and music communities to equalize access and outcomes for everyone.

Kola Labs (British Virgin Islands) — Cutting-edge generative art and AI technologies are used to build a scalable solution for an immersive, interactive metaverse experience so that everyone can own and enjoy personalized music as well as connect music NFTs deep within the Web3 ecosystem.

LiberaTrade (Hong Kong) — A company that gains an understanding of what products a billion emerging market consumers are buying, with tokenized micro-incentives and retail AI. LiberaTrade is enabling a more profitable and less wasteful ecosystem for retail brands, by increasing sales, reducing unwanted inventory, and improving access to capital for the world’s highest volume consumer goods supply chains.

Lost Club Toys (Germany/United Kingdom/Singapore) — A lifestyle brand devoted to electronic music culture that uses NFTs to build membership, and light coin exchange tokens (LCTs) to bring artists and fans closer together.

Lumiere Project (Hong Kong) — A finance solution for entertainment. Lumiere solutions operate as technological bricks that considerably lower investment risks for recorded media investors. Investors can now test the impact of their IP before production, they can easily track how their money is spent, and they can attract new capital through rights tokenization. Lumiere aims to simplify and gamify his end-user experience in a metaverse-led environment.

MetaGameHub DAO (Netherlands) — A homebase for aggregated open metaverse experiences, and builder of a platform of complementary tools and agnostic infrastructure such as an avatar module, a metaverse builder, and AI-based NFT valuations including a metaverse LAND Heatmap.

The Morpheus Project (Thailand/United Kingdom) — An educational, virtual world that incorporates historical artifacts, immersive learning and NFTs to create virtual and augmented-reality lessons in a learn-to-earn setting.

MV4F (Singapore) — A B2B company with a ledger of 3D assets that targets game developers, aiming to help developers shorten development timeline, expediting game deployment and transacting 3D assets using tokens. Interconnected and interactive 3D metaverse built organically from the ground up.

Niftpad (United Kingdom) — A company that enables brands to create and sell unique digital assets without a single line of code. Through their white-label shop platform, brands can easily build fully customizable stores to issue and sell unique digital assets. This allows them not only to diversify revenue streams but also to explore completely new ways of customer engagement.

Niftyz.io (United Kingdom) — A revolutionary Grow2Earn platform that gamifies and monetizes the growth of the early-stage investment ecosystem. They aim to transform the growth progress of selected start-ups into tradable assets, generating a cash injection as they demonstrate growth through the platform. Early supporters will gain a share of their ongoing success as the start-ups build a promising business for themselves and their investors.

PZM-9 (United States/China) — A company that empowers anyone to create stunning LANDs for The Sandbox in minutes, PZM-9 combines primitives from world-class designers with AI generation to turn a set of keywords into a fully-populated metaverse experience.

QXR Studios (United States) — A veteran storyteller and game developer creating Web3 games, augmented reality, and narrative IP whose first major blockchain game is Metropolis Origins, an NFT tradable card game.

Scrye (United States) — A connecter between the metaverse and the universe, bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3 for brands. They are building the community and tools for a B2B self-service platform that uses Computer Vision and AR to connect digital experiences and NFTs to items, influencers and artists.

Sky Meta (Hong Kong/Thailand/Philippines) — A builder of Web3 GameFi tools including a gamer platform, NFT management suite, exportable wallet, guild management and AI-based analytics for NFTs.

Skydome Sports (Canada) — A multi-sport cloud stadium where fans play. Fans can now bring their game to chat and flex their fandom, by converting their participation, chatter, predictions, knowledge and skills into token rewards. Skydome™️ is the social sports platform and blockchain loyalty program designed to reward fans for being fans. Tokens can be redeemed for prizes, swag, money can’t buy experiences™️ and original NFT collections. Teams and sponsors benefit from Skydome™️ moment marketing to reach the 99% of fans outside the stadium when it matters most.

Smobler Studios (Singapore) — An official The Sandbox-endorsed metaverse agency focused on integrated Web3, phygital strategy, and application. It is focused on co-creating a diverse ecosystem with a strong academy emphasis.

Sugar Glider Digital (Australia) — An Australian born/owned/based International NFT art consulting platform and marketplace which curates and commissions bespoke NFTs for companies, art collectors or brands specializing in NFTs for the public realm.

ULTD (United States) — An AR-based mobile game experience that brings an immersive narrative universe that gives people multiple reasons to play and engage long-term.

Uniqly.io (United States) — A company that enables creators, artists, and brands to bridge physical and digital experiences. They provide the platform to launch next-layer e-commerce stores through a fully automated, no-code solution where each physical product is sold through NFT with the possibility of redeeming to different metaverses.

Urban Electronic Games (United States) — An international mobile game studio that has pivoted to integrating blockchain technology into Augmented Reality games. They currently hold an international (Japanese) IP for penetration into an additional market of high KPIs.

Verifoxx (United Kingdom) — A B2B privacy-preserving identity verification startup using proprietary Zero Knowledge technology that allows businesses to verify their users but in a way that ensures no personal data ever gets shared or exposed. It helps to make business transactions faster, unanimous, immutable and more accountable.

Virtual Arts (United States) — A mobile head-to-head video competition and tournament app, starting with dance but rapidly expanding to all kinds of content (incl. action sports). The community and celeb judges vote and crown the winners. The team plans to roll out NFTs for creators and voters alike.

Zodium (Singapore) — A Play-to-Earn team-based animated 3D character NFT company created by the former co-founder of LINE FRIENDs and its members. The ancient legends of the 12 zodiac animals and the 12 star signs are the fundamental concepts of Zodium.

 

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Notable Mentions of Brinc Portfolio Companies

In spite of market turmoil and a tough year for the venture capital space, Brinc’s portfolio companies continued to receive investments, push boundaries, launch new products, and successfully gain traction for their potential to drive real impact.

 

Portfolio Fundraising News

Here’s a quick snapshot of companies from Brinc’s portfolio that completed funding rounds in 2022:

• Altris AI raised US$1M in a round of funding led by Runa Capital. Read more
• Avant Meats raised over US$10M to commercialize fish and marine protein, and made Forbes Asia 100 to Watch 2022 list. Read more
• CellX raised US$10.6M in its Series A funding round. Read more
• Grounded closed an oversubscribed £550k seed round led by Rianta Capital. Read more
• Haofood completed a seed funding round and raised US$3.5 million for its peanut-based chicken alternative. Read more
• Kraken Sense received a US$500,000 investment from Sustainable Development Technology Canada. Read more
• Omni secured £1.1 million (US$1.5M) in their first funding round, which will support new product line developments, including treatments for specific health conditions. Read more
• On2Cook’s newly-secured funding of Rs 17 crore (US$2.084M) values the company at over US$12.2 million. Read more
• ØZERS announced their €850,000 (US$1.06M) fundraising round. Read more
• SkyeBrowse raised a US$2.3M round to grow from four to 24 people, and build technologies to simplify pain points for first responders. Read more
• Zeta Surgical announced a US$5.2M seed round to complete their initial set of clinical trials for their device, take it through FDA clearance, and launch with their initial set of clinical partners. Read more

 

A wide number of Brinc portfolio companies are also raising rounds currently. If there is interest to learn more, please reach out to portfolio.companies@brinc.io.

 

Portfolio Highlights and Milestones

 

FoodTech

• FairFlavor launched Nth Wonder, their Kenari nut-based gelato brand. Read more
• Four Brinc AgriFoodTech portfolio companies: Sensegrass Inc, CellX, Orbillion Bio, and Shandi Global featured in Forward Fooding’s 2021 FoodTech 500 list. Read more
• Representatives of Brinc portfolio companies Avant Meats, CellX, Magic Valley, Umami Meats, and TurtleTree, together with other industry leaders, sign an MoU agreeing on cultivated food nomenclature across APAC. Read more
• CellX, Mzansi Meat Co., Magic Valley, and Fybraworks Foods made Vevolution’s list of 40 Cellular Agriculture companies pioneering a sustainable future of food. Read more
• Abillion donated SG$2M (US$1.5M) to 63 global non-profit organizations. Read more
• Sophie’s Bionutrients joined forces with NewFish to explore microalgae’s potential. Read more
• Orbillion Bio went to market in 35 European countries. Read more
• Umami Meats patent to bring down the cost of cultivated seafood. Read more
• Mzansi Meat Co. was featured as African plant-based meat pioneers. Read more
• Avant Meats CEO was interviewed by Bloomberg on lab-grown seafood. Read more

 

Hardware and IoT

• SkyBrowse launched Hyper, which generates 3D models 5x faster than their regular models. Read more

 

MedTech and Healthcare

• Zeta Surgical received clearance and signed clinical trial agreements with two Singapore hospitals. Read more
• Altris AI was ranked in the top five ophthalmology startups by StartUS Insights. Read more
• Strados Labs was listed as one of six Philadelphia MedTech companies making waves. Read more

 

Web3

• Another-1 collaborated with NFT platform Swappable to create three-in-one ‘crypto sneakers’. Read more
• Coinmiles introduced a feature that enables users to earn Bitcoin when buying gift cards. Read more
• Crayon started their first SubDAO project: Heritage DAO, to raise funds for Kansong Museum. Read more
• Verifoxx won the CHERI WebAssembly Micro Runtime competition, and was awarded a US$1.1 million grant by the UK government. Read more
• Zodium partnered with blockchain network IOST to expand the NFT and blockchain game sectors to the IOST ecosystem. Read more
• Niftyz.io founder shortlisted amongst the leading women in crypto. Read more

 

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Brinc Highlights and Announcements

In 2022 Brinc introduced and kicked off two new programs:

• The Sandbox Metaverse Accelerator — Delivered in partnership with The Sandbox Game, for startups that can contribute to the growth and expansion of The Sandbox ecosystem. With The Sandbox having revolutionized how people interact in their daily lives, including how they socialize, shop, and consume entertainment, this accelerator seeks and enhances pioneering blockchain startups in any field that can build unique experiences and populate The Sandbox platform with fresh creativity and new content.

• ZK Advancer — (formerly Launchpad Luna) Delivered in partnership with Animoca Brands, for blockchain and Web3 startups that are shaping the future of Web3 and driving digitalization. Brinc updated and upgraded its program to echo the continued evolution of, and its role within, the Web3 space, a rebrand that reflects the program’s focus on Web3’s main capabilities. ZK Advancer, which is also suitable for startups looking to embed Web3 principles, will seek new and innovative ways to utilize Web3 to approach everyday challenges in culture, arts, entertainment, gaming, financial services, data management, decentralized finance (DeFi) and other related fields.

 

In 2022 Brinc also co-ran six accelerator programs:

• Jada30 Ideation Bootcamp (one-time program) — Brinc, in collaboration with Jada30 and the social development bank, hosted a first-of-its-kind ideation bootcamp in Saudi Arabia where 15 startups were mentored for four weeks on how to validate their business ideas and financial plans.

• Mashroo3i 2.0 — Designed for passionate young entrepreneurs with viable business ideas, this program enables young Bahraini’s with high potential to explore creative concepts and turn them into sustainable businesses.

• Beban — Bahrain’s first entrepreneurship-themed reality show, similar to Shark Tank or Dragons’ Den, commenced its second-season bootcamp upon accepting 100 promising entrepreneurs in partnership with Brinc MENA.

• HK Tech 300 — Brinc, City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and others hosted a large-scale eight-week flagship innovation and entrepreneurship program that aims to educate, guide, and inspire CityU students, alumni, research staff, and others to develop their businesses and create 300 startups in three years. Thus far, the program has seen four cohorts, provided one-on-one mentoring, and bespoke reviews to catalyze company growth.

• Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund — Brinc continued its partnership with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund to run their accelerator program for the 6th cohort. The program, which is multi-vertical, aims to foster innovation and assist international startups in entering the UAE market and obtaining funding. The program covers various sectors including technology, education, clean energy, water, transportation, health, and space.

• Omantel Innovation Lab — Brinc joined forces with the newly established Omantel Innovation Lab to execute their accelerator program and aid in their internal innovation and ecosystem development efforts. The Omantel Innovation Lab serves as a focal point that utilizes Omantel’s resources, partnerships, reach, and access to technology to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in cutting-edge technology, with a specific focus on IoT, 5G technologies, cybersecurity and big data.

 

Brinc also secured commitments for nine new accelerators which will kick off in 2023:

• Brazil FoodTech — For global startups developing new food alternatives and better processes to solve inefficiencies in the food supply chain. Brazil recently grew to become the world’s fifth-most important healthy food market, boasting an annual growth of 20% against a global average of 8%. This is evidence that there is a drive towards more sustainable, healthier means of food production in Latin America, which Brinc intends to catalyze.

• Climate Tech — With support and investment from Artesian Venture Partners, this exciting new accelerator is for startups working on gigaton-scale carbon removal solutions. The 12-week virtual program offers founders the necessary tools for their technology development, commercialization, and fundraising needs. Its mission is to increase global collaboration on and awareness of carbon dioxide removal (CDR), enabling gigaton-scale development; and provide tailored support to startups so they can scale faster and reach their next fundraising round, and connect startups from emerging and established markets to Asian and capital markets.

• China Landing Pad Accelerator Program — For Singaporean startups in the food space looking to enter the Chinese market. Alongside Enterprise Singapore, Brinc will support up to 12 startups per year that are looking to China for growth opportunities. This 12-week virtual program will focus on alternative proteins and supply chain issues, and boost companies that are commercially ready, having already sold some product. The program’s four pillars are: access to commercial partners in mainland China; company incorporation in mainland China (optional); participation in conferences, tech events, and product showcases to support network building in China; and access to Brinc’s network of both global and mainland China-based investors.

• Education Technology (EdTech) — For startups driving impact and tackling education-related problems using Web3 technologies. Brinc’s EdTech accelerator provides skills, connections, and access to an EdTech metaverse, courtesy of Impact District’s involvement, to startups that empower new learning methods that reward skill development, allow people to prove identity and skills in order to add new earning potential and economic freedom, use tokens and NFTs in real-life cases to validate identity and skills, distribute education more equitably, and tackle specific pain points in traditional education to improve the scale of learning with use of technology.

• ENTERPRISE NEXT — For startups in the enterprise tech space. Brinc has partnered with Cornerstone Ventures (CSVP) and technology partner Microsoft for Startups to identify, mentor, and invest in promising companies through the ENTERPRISE NEXT accelerator. Companies working on enabling new business models, seamless interactions and engagements between consumers and stakeholders (particularly within the Web3 ecosystem), facilitating faster and more secure transactions across the value chain (leveraging blockchain infrastructure and tokenization) and helping future enterprises achieve carbon neutrality receive training, mentorship, initial investment of US$100,000, and numerous follow-on opportunities.

• The Good Food Accelerator — For startups seeking to meaningfully commercialize in Greater China while leveraging the online and offline distribution channels of DayDayCook as well as an extensive network of food corporations, hospitality groups, and regional distributors. This program will commit US$10M to 45 startups in the space focused on alternative protein, functional and novel ingredients, sustainable packaging, food supply chain innovation, and consumer agritech solutions.

• India Food Tech — For food technology companies in the alternative protein space. Alongside GFI India, Brinc will accelerate a maximum of eight startups per cohort with a ticket size of US$125,000 to progress food tech startups either in or looking to enter the Indian market with its sustainable food option.

• MedTech and Healthcare — For startups with innovative medical and healthcare solutions using Web3 technologies. The vertical, aided by Prenetics and OliveX, focuses on women’s health, mental wellness, fitness (including move-to-earn, fitness metaverses, virtual and augmented reality fitness, and learn-to-earn fitness), data privacy utilizing the blockchain (for uses such as electronic health records), health and wellness devices, digital healthcare, clinical devices and wearables, and other health-related technologies.

• ZK Advancer India — For Web3 startups in or focused on breaking into the Indian market, ZK Advancer — India identifies, mentors, and invests in promising startups shaping the future of Web3 and driving decentralization in India, as well as considering companies looking to embed Web3 principles into their core business models

 

Do you know any high-potential startups mixing profit with purpose that are currently raising funds and have short-term commercialization needs that fit Brinc’s investment thesis? If so, please direct them to https://www.brinc.io/accelerators/ to learn more about Brinc’s programs.

 

Partnerships

• Animoca Brands, a global leader in gamification and blockchain with a large portfolio of over 380 investments, and a mission to advance digital property rights and contribute to building the open metaverse. Their skills, knowledge, network, and expertise aid a vast number of participants and graduates of all of Brinc’s Web3 programs.

• Artesian, a global alternative investment management firm specializing in impact investment strategies, and one of APAC’s most active early-stage VC investors, with a focus on climate, agrifood, health, AI and robotics, education, and gender equality. Brinc is excited to work closely with Artesian directly on the Climate Tech and Food Tech accelerators in 2023. Their industry knowledge, network, and experience will provide participating startups with the right backing to support their acceleration.

• Bahrain National Insurance, an insurance company and subsidiary of Bahrain National Holding Company is a 50-year-old commercial and personal insurance company. In 2022, they took part in numerous mentorship sessions, breakout sessions, and workshops for Brinc and its startups and signed an MoU entitling Brinc startups to attractive rates for their community products and services over the next three years.

• Blockchain App Factory, a prominent blockchain and cryptocurrency business development venture based in Chennai, India, boasts 400+ full-time staff of blockchain research and development specialists, technical content writers, marketers, engineers, and more; and they work on blockchain solutions in NFT marketplace development, NFT studio, marketing services, and IDO/ICO/STO development. The MoU they signed with Brinc will give discount access to their services to ZK Advancer India participants.

• Cornerstone Ventures, a leading Saudi management consulting firm that provides its services to both the private and public sectors. Brinc partnered with them for the ENTERPRISE NEXT accelerator that will invest US$100,000 per startup in up to 45 startups, and over three years will see US$4.5 million invested.

• DayDayCook, a content-driven direct-to-customer brand in China, partners with Brinc to commit US$10 million to support 45 food technology companies through the Good Food Accelerator that helps startups in alternative protein, functional and novel ingredients, sustainable packaging, food supply chain innovation, and consumer agritech solutions scale into mainland China.

• DMCC, a company that connects more than 21,000 businesses with the world-class services, leading infrastructure and vibrant community they need to thrive and succeed in Dubai. DMCC’s partnership with Brinc will give startups access to funding, knowledge, and networking opportunities in the Web3 and blockchain space.

• Enterprise Singapore, a government agency that has been championing enterprise development since 2018. Their partnership with Brinc will result in a food technology program — the China Landing Pad Accelerator — that supports Singaporean startups looking to commercialize in mainland China.

• Fusang, Asia’s first fully regulated digital asset exchange, partnered with Brinc to make startup investment more inclusive through security tokenization and on-chain solutions. As a result, ZK Advancer participants will gain access to Fusang’s industry expertise, personalized mentorship, and its single platform tokenization solution. The company also runs Fusang Digital Asset Exchange, a platform that drives equality and investment inclusivity, in line with Brinc’s thesis.

• The Good Food Institute India (GFI India), a non-profit organization that promotes plant-based and clean meat alternatives, works to accelerate the development and availability of alternative protein to address environmental, animal welfare, and public health issues. By jointly running an India-based food program with them, Brinc secures a ticket for startups as well as connections and prestigious brand partnerships.

• GrowX Ventures, an early-stage investment firm based out of Delhi, India, helps startups scale by investing time and money in them. Their involvement in the ZK Advancer India program will mean a minimum investment of US$100,000 for at least five companies per year, helping with the advancement and penetration of Web3 technologies in India.

• Huawei, a China-headquartered Fortune 500 technology group looking to expand its cloud business market reach, they are seeking emerging technologies and prospective startups for its portfolio. Brinc ran sprints to review more than 600 deals over the past year and made introductions to 32+ companies, with a 70% engagement rate based on the introductions made, and led the deal scoping. Brinc also secured insights to facilitate investment decision-making.

• Huddle01, a Web3 video meeting platform built for Web3 communities, DAOs, builders, and Web3 enthusiasts that aims to bring the world closer via seamless video calling provided a mentor for ZK Advancer India, who will share on SDK and Dev support, conduct an AMA for marketing collaboration, and give other insights.

• Impact District, a company whose mission is to connect impact to Web3 via an ecosystem of brands, people, and organizations with a shared belief that people can be and do better. Their involvement in Brinc’s EdTech accelerator will give participants access to their metaverse — a hub for learn-to-earn experiences — as well as a vast network.

• Lumos Labs, a gateway to Web3 on Buidler that enables developers to build in their metaverse, signed an MoU with Brinc as an investment partner that will see ZK Advancer India graduates better equipped to strengthen Web3 in India.

• Microsoft for Startups, a company designed to support and accelerate early-stage startups by providing them with access to Microsoft’s resources, technology, expertise, and mentorship from industry experts and investors will be aiding startups on the ENTERPRISE NEXT program in India.

• OG Club Dao, a large Web3 community in India that has a presence in Southeast Asia and across the world, has a founder group of Web3 enthusiasts, conducts offline events, and provides end-to-end service in event management and community engagement. They will share their network with ZK Advancer India startups.

• OliveX, a digital health and fitness company delivering unique user experiences through fitness gamification, augmented reality, and play-to-earn experiences. Their metaverse features experiences that promote fitness, as do those of numerous MedTech and Healthcare applicants that they will be working with.

• Polygon Guilds, a bridge to the Polygon ecosystem, where workshops, meetups and online sessions help network builders take place, which also has the largest guild in India, will be invaluable to ZK Advancer India startups.

• Prenetics, a leading genetics and diagnostic health testing company, living healthier and proactively preventing and diagnosing diseases. They will be providing their expertise and connections to MedTech and Healthcare accelerator participants.

• Protocol Labs, an open-source research and development lab where they build protocols, tools, and services to radically improve the internet. They will provide ZK Advancer participants on the current cohort with access to their decentralized storage network, peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol, and lab; and are committed to driving Web3 toward net-zero emissions, aligning with Brinc’s vision.

• The Sandbox, a community-driven platform where creators can monetize voxel ASSETS and gaming experiences on the blockchain. Brinc’s Sandbox Metaverse accelerator provides funding, metaverse LAND, networking, and knowledge.

• Spheron Protocol, an all-in-one decentralized platform that automates modern dApps, provides frictionless developer experience to take care of instant deployment, automatic scaling, and delivering personalized content on decentralized networks. They will be providing ZK Advancer India startups with free dedicated support and consultancy calls with their product team.

• Zilliqa, a high-security, low-fee layer-1 blockchain protocol, will support Brinc’s ZK Advancer cohorts until at least the end of 2026 with industry knowledge, networking opportunities, blockchain technology, and potential additional funding.

• Multinational Cosmetics Company, Brinc received a mandate from one of the world’s leading beauty industry companies to source startups that can pilot emerging technologies alongside them for retail and other functional areas. Brinc guides the process end-to-end; from formulating innovation strategies to executing proof-of-concept programs.

 

If you are interested in becoming a Brinc corporate partner, reach out to castor.hui@brinc.io to learn more about Brinc’s engagement models. Brinc works closely with organizations to source innovative startups through its vast network and world-class programs.

If you run a fund or are keen to invest in high-growth companies, reach out to kimberley.lam@brinc.io to learn more about how Brinc can help develop custom sourcing funnels (following your thesis) and develop programs that help you de-risk your investments.

 

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Events, Keynotes, and Panels

2022 was a challenging year for in-person events, but as pandemic restrictions eased and the world began to open up, Brinc was able to reconnect with its global network of partners, develop new collaborations, and take part in 80+ events across Bahrain, UAE, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, the USA and more, as well as host and speak at a number of virtual events.

Some of the highlights are below:

March 14–17 saw Brinc co-host a series of Demo Days in partnership with Animoca Brands across numerous verticals, at which companies pitched to potential investors. The pitches can be viewed on Brinc’s YouTube channel.

On July 7th, Brinc virtually hosted Asia’s Alternative Protein Showcase; its second year hosting the event in partnership with Enterprise Singapore. The showcase highlighted some of the latest Alternative Protein innovations from regional leaders including Josh Tetrick (JUST), Mirte Gosker (GFI APAC), Carrie Chan (Avant), and Aparna Venkatesh (Buhler). 330+ attended the event, and all the interviews from the showcase can be viewed on Brinc’s YouTube channel.

Brinc MENA acted as both mentors and judges in Bahrain Artificial Intelligence & Internet of Things competition on July 21, alongside prominent CEOs, Project Managers, and the President of the International Group of Artificial Intelligence Dr. Jassim Haji.

On July 25, Brinc MENA, alongside the European Union Delegation to Bahrain, French Embassy and Bahrain Authority of Culture & Antiquities, hosted the second edition of the Urban Hackathon in the GCC region. The competition was won by the participant whose sustainable futuristic urban planning idea best aligned with the Bahrain 2030 Vision and EU Green Deal.

On September 6th, Brinc hosted the Asia Healthcare Innovation Summit during StartmeupHK Festival 2022. The summit was a hybrid event held at the beautiful Runnovation event space in Wan Chai, and supported by key healthcare stakeholders including Johnson & Johnson Innovation, HSBC, Manulife, Pentepebble, Verge, and Insilico Medicine. All the summit’s content can be viewed on Brinc’s YouTube channel.

September 23rd saw Brinc Managing Director, India, Karan Keswani speak on a panel at the AWS Decrypt conference in Bangalore, India. The event brought India’s Web3 ecosystem together to collaborate on and build the decentralized internet of the future, and the panel Keswani spoke on was about the VC investment thesis in the Web3 space.

Asia Crypto Week, from 26 September to 2 October in Singapore, saw Brinc Program Director (Health Tech) Joseph Ho speak on a panel titled Metaverse: Building a Shared Future organized by SC Ventures by Standard Chartered and a panel at Brinc-sponsored Impact 3.0 on The Next 1 Billion People on Web3. The week also saw Brinc Managing Director, Hong Kong, Guillermo Ginesta deliver opening remarks at DCENTRAL SINGAPORE’s Degen n Frens! before moderating a session with founders of Brinc-accelerated startups on How the Next Wave of Entrepreneurs is Shaping the Future of Web3 During Crypto Winter.

On October 5 and 6, RETHINK — a cross-sector platform for sustainable business, showcasing game-changing innovations, raising awareness, and encouraging teamwork to promote the smart use of resources was hosted in Hong Kong. Brinc’s Food Technology Program Manager, Nicole Lee spoke on a panel during the event.

Brinc had a booth at the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai from 10–13 October — a meeting point for the world’s most disruptive business technology trends. The four-day event saw over 4,500 tech and digital companies from 170 countries explore the metaverse, blockchain for enterprise, and the future of digital assets; and Brinc’s booth provided the opportunity to assess which of these trends would take off.

From October 13–14, New Delhi, India played host to The Smart Protein Summit 2022, an event organized by GFI India at which Brinc Managing Director, India, Karan Keswani participated in the innovators showcase as an investor and spoke on a panel.

Brinc’s Founder & CEO, Manav Gupta spoke at a number of conferences throughout the year. At Startup Day — Sustainable Futures, hosted by Invest Hong Kong on 20 October, he shared on how positive impact can be created by FoodTech innovators and investors, and how developing a more sustainable food system is a climate change solution.

At Singapore International Agri-Food Week, from 26 to 28 October, Brinc was delighted to see 11 Brinc portfolio companies participate. Meanwhile, during the APAC Agri-Food Innovation Summit, Brinc hosted a panel during Startup Day, and shared a booth with portfolio companies Avant, CellX, Harmony Baby Nutrition, and Orbillion Bio. Brinc concluded the week by co-organizing an alternative protein social in partnership with the Good Food Institute APAC and Big Idea Ventures, capping off a great week of events that helped establish partnerships and further the growth of the alternative protein industry.

From 14–20 November, over 750 attended Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), which saw 28 local and international speakers converge on Bahrain to take part in panel discussions, workshops, and seminars aimed at attracting entrepreneurs. During the event, Brinc’s Web3 Program Manager, Karim Banna spoke on the Metaverse.

During DCentral Miami on 28 and 29 November, Brinc accommodated 12 companies from its ZK Advancer and The Sandbox Metaverse accelerator cohorts in Miami to meet with the Web3 community in America’s capital of crypto. As well as attending numerous DCentral Miami events, Brinc hosted two of its own break-out sessions, where companies shared what they’re building during the current Crypto Winter.

On December 2, Brinc Managing Director, India, Karan Keswani spoke on a panel at the Metaverse, Gaming, Esports and NFT (MGEN) Summit in Mumbai, India, where he shed light on factors VCs consider before investing in gaming and immersive world startups.

Brinc hosted end-of-year networking events for Hong Kong’s Healthcare and FoodTech communities. With COVID restrictions lifted, Brinc plans to continue to host networking events throughout 2023.

Brinc’s venture funds team was also active at events this year, hosting a number of family office networking drinks events in Hong Kong and Singapore. Additionally Brinc’s venture team participated at NUS InnovFest, World Blockchain Summit, AVCJ Singapore Private Equity & Venture Forum, NXC International Summit, SuperReturn Asia, Token 2049, Singapore International AgriFood Week, Switch, Singapore Fintech Festival, and NextTech Asia: Blockchain Pitch Day.

If you’re interested in learning more about Brinc’s funds, please visit the Brinc Funds website or reach out to milan.thakkar@brinc.io.

 

Media Coverage

Brinc is grateful to have had coverage from so many leading media outlets throughout the year. Here is a snapshot of a few outlets that shared news on Brinc in 2022:

SCMP: Brinc receives US$50M pledge from Animoca Brands for The Sandbox accelerator program (January 28th)

Startup MGZN: ​​20 Brinc-selected students graduate from “Batelco Digital Bootcamp” virtual program (March 10th)

Startup MGZN: Brinc and other major entities celebrate the conclusion of the Bahrain Urban Hackathon (July 25th)

Green Queen: Brinc’s Good Food Accelerator Program brings $10 Million in solutions to China’s food system (July 26th)

E27: Brinc joins hands with Fusang to make startup investments more inclusive (October 18th)

Gulf Business: Brinc x DMCC Crypto Centre to provide members access to $150m accelerator fund (October 12th)

News of Bahrain: Brinc partners with Solidarity Bahrain to offer mentorship opportunities (November 3rd)

Deal street Asia: Brinc builds Singapore office (December 12th)

In addition to coverage of Brinc corporate news, a number of Brinc portfolio companies were in the news for their achievements. To see what previously accelerated firms have been up to, head to the Notable Portfolio Highlights section and follow Brinc on LinkedIn via https://www.linkedin.com/company/brinc-io/.

 

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Brinc Team — 2022 Highlights

Guillermo Ginesta – Managing Director, Hong Kong

“Even though 2022 was tough, Brinc has grown from strength to strength and we doubled our Asia Pacific team to provide more support to more founders.

“We also expanded into new verticals; not only growing our Web3 and food technology programs last year, but also launching programs in metaverse and culture and entertainment, and will be launching Climate Tech and going back to MedTech in 2023. We are very excited with the foundations we’ve laid and for what’s to come!”

Olga Dontsova – General Counsel, Hong Kong

“It is a new and exciting challenge to set up an in-house legal function at Brinc, where I feel I can lay the groundwork and influence more than would be possible at a more traditional multinational company. A lot of Brinc’s work revolves around a game-changing space, but it’s vital to keep that grounded in a framework that observes precedent and good commercial practices.”

Karim Banna – Program Manager (Web3), MENA

“The greatest highlight of the year for me was working on the front lines with incredible Web3 founders. I really enjoyed the ZK Advancer fall program. I saw tremendous value the program had for the startups and it is genuinely rewarding when founders also recognize the value of the hard work we put in to deliver a program that supports their journey and success.”

Nick Lock – Portfolio Analyst, Hong Kong

“A key highlight for me was the opportunity to get in touch with portfolio companies across different industries. Also, the ESG pilot is kick-starting its support of founders in measuring and achieving their environmental and social goals.”

Nicole Lee – Program Manager (Food Technology), Hong Kong

“One of my favorite 2022 moments was meeting founders in person at the APAC Agri-Food Innovation Summit in Singapore after working with them virtually over the past year. There, we connected with new corporate and investment partners at our booth, and even had a panel discussion with our portfolio companies Avant Meats, Cell-X, Harmony Baby Nutrition, and Orbillion Bio on the opportunities and challenges of innovating in the food tech space.

“The FoodTech socials that we co-hosted in Singapore and Hong Kong were also incredible opportunities to engage with that community — I could really feel the buzz and exciting energy around supporting innovators building a stronger future of food!”

Yasin Aboudaoud – Managing Partner, MENA

“The greatest highlight of the year for me was building a new team across numerous offices. We have learned a lot in terms of what we can achieve by being active in numerous global locations as well as regionally in the Middle East. Being mobile and agile has also allowed us to have a stronger presence as an organization with our offerings.”

Joseph Ho – Program Director (Health Tech), Hong Kong

“The growth of the company. New talent onboarding seamlessly meshing with the existing team and the strategic move to develop new alliances and innovative new programs. I am also excited that I’ve learnt new business models in health vertical utilizing blockchain and Web3 elements, talked to founders about their passion, the events that led them to found their startups, and the geographic variety of startups that all have common issues but also nuances in their particular region.”

Ahmed Almutawa – Business Analyst, MENA

“The entire Beban program, working on the proposal for it, and seeing it through to the end was truly amazing. A great showcase of Brinc MENA’s hard work and dedication.”

 

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Thanks for making it to the end! Hope that gives you a glimpse into our work in 2022. We are excited about a number of great initiatives in the works for 2023 and the nine new programs that are being introduced to founders that are working towards promoting global sustainability, inclusivity and equitability directives. We’ve put a foundation in place with a growing footprint and team and feel ready for the year ahead. We look forward to continuing our work with mission-aligned partners who share our passion to help speed up the growth & impact of hundreds of game changing companies.

To find out more about Brinc’s programs and offerings, please visit www.brinc.io.

 

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Read What’s to Come to see Brinc’s predictions for 2023.

 

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Disclaimer

Except for statements of historical fact (where the reader should bear in mind that past performance does not predict future results), this post may contain statements that predict Brinc’s future performance and those of Brinc’s portfolio companies. If you are a potential investor, this information should be one factor in evaluating an investment. Finally, this post contains financial information and copyrighted information concerning Brinc’s portfolio companies. This post may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, without Brinc’s prior written consent. Brinc’s legal department may be contacted at legal@brinc.io.