Betagro Plc (BTG), the country's leading integrated food company, has established Betagro Ventures -- a new corporate venture arm to incubate new food and agricultural technology ventures.
The company has also set up a US$30-million fund to invest in potential startups.
The new corporate venture is expected to spur innovation across the Betagro ecosystem.
Betagro Ventures will operate based on three core strategies: improving consumers access to safe and high quality foods; developing new sustainable sources of protein; and creating a sustainable agro-industrial food supply chain.
"These three strategies are to be achieved through targeted venture capital investments and the incubation of internal startups," said Chayadhorn Taepaisitphongse, chief strategy and innovation officer of Betagro and managing director of Betagro Ventures.
The $30-million fund will invest in early-stage startups that are developing innovations aligned to Betagro Ventures' core strategies. With these direct investments, Betagro Ventures will seek to leverage the broader Betagro ecosystem to support startups in providing access to end-consumers, domain expertise and strategic partnership opportunities.
Complementing the venture fund, Betagro Ventures will also focus on incubating and scaling internal business ventures.
Through combining BTG's deep agri-food industry expertise with new entrepreneurial talent, Betagro Ventures aims to create new resilient ventures that can complement BTG's core businesses.
Mr Chayadhorn said traditional business models are facing challenges from technology disruption and rapidly changing consumer behaviour. However, opportunities exist, such as opportunities to embrace innovation, by collaborating with startups to develop and scale new technologies.
"We believe in the open innovation model that promotes collaboration between internal and external stakeholders to accelerate new technologies that can better serve today's ever-changing market," he said.
"Betagro Ventures will be a key mechanism in propelling BTG's businesses into a new era of sustainable growth. The company hopes to develop innovations in order to elevate Thailand and Asean's food industry to new heights," Mr Chayadhorn added.