The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Oct 2025

Verta Bioenergy is a Singapore-headquartered climate-tech startup that transforms agricultural waste into high-quality biomass pellets designed to be a seamless, cost-competitive drop-in replacement for coal. The company was co-created with ENGIE Factory, Wright Partners, and Ming Labs and incubated through the Economic Development Board’s Corporate Venture Launchpad programme. With fresh capital in hand, Verta plans to commission its first commercial-scale manufacturing plant, which will have an annual production capacity of 12,000 tonnes. It is also developing a solar-powered drying system to boost energy efficiency in the production process. Beyond equity funding, the startup has secured more than US$10 million in Letters of Intent from leading multinationals and is in the process of finalising its first contracts. The company’s focus on displacing coal positions it squarely within the decarbonisation and renewable energy transition markets. The recent seed round provides the financial resources required to move from pilot operations to commercial scale.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2020

Agrourbana operates vertical farming facilities producing high-quality vegetables year-round with a strong focus on sustainability. The company uses 99% less soil and 95% less water and grows without pesticides. It currently supplies major chains and restaurants but is operating at maximum capacity. Management says the business is not yet profitable and is raising capital to scale production and expand facilities. Agrourbana occupies 400 m² of a 4,000 m² site and plans to utilize the entire space and expand its Quilicura plant to five times current capacity. The team aims to multiply production 20 times within three years and describes the planned output as 'lettuce forests' equivalent to 20 hectares within a market of at least 70,000 cultivated hectares. AgroUrbana, founded in 2018 in Chile by Pablo Bunster and Cristian Sjögren, operates climate-controlled hydroponic vertical farms growing lettuce and is trialing crops such as strawberries. The company runs a 3,000-square-foot pilot facility in Santiago using precise spectrum lighting and supplies supermarkets including Cencosud and Walmart, as well as restaurants, catering channels, and a direct-to-consumer subscription box. It closed a $4 million Series A to fund construction of its first large-scale plant, a replication of the pilot that will be ten times larger and is expected to increase output roughly twentyfold. Management emphasizes a technology-agnostic, off-the-shelf approach informed by the founders’ renewable-energy experience rather than developing proprietary systems. AgroUrbana plans to use the new facility to prove a profitable large-scale model and then expand across Latin America, targeting major cities such as Sao Paolo, Bogota, Lima, and Mexico City. AgroUrbana operates a 3,000 sq ft pilot vertical farm in the suburbs of Santiago, growing layered, hydroponically produced leafy greens and fruits under LED lighting. The team plans to use the recent seed funds to advance pilot testing and scale operations. They describe themselves as South America’s first vertical farm according to the Association for Vertical Farming. AgroUrbana has inked a first offtake deal with a major Chilean grocery retailer and is exploring distributed scaling versus larger centralized plant models. Management plans a 30,000 sq ft facility and aims to pursue Series A funding later in the year to bankroll that expansion. The founders are evaluating renewable energy options for scaling, including power purchase agreements, financing a power plant, or building on‑site solar.