The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Sep 2025

Terra Oleo is a Singapore-based biotechnology startup developing engineered yeast strains that convert agricultural and biodiesel waste into a range of oils, including cocoa butter analogs and specialty oleochemicals for the cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors. Co-founded in 2022 by Shen Ming Lee, whose family is a major palm-oil producer, and MIT PhD Boon Uranukul, the company aims to offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional palm-oil supply chains. Its team has selected three yeast species and used genetic and metabolic engineering to boost production of targeted triglycerides, enabling the microbes to secrete finished specialty fats without costly downstream refining. Although the company is currently producing only gram-scale quantities in the lab, it plans to use newly raised capital to reach kilogram-scale production. Early cost analysis indicates that Terra Oleo could achieve margins of roughly 80% on certain oleochemicals because its process skips multiple refining steps. Over time, the founders hope to collaborate with incumbent palm-oil players to diversify global vegetable-oil supply and reduce deforestation impacts.

Led · Seed · Apr 2024

Alternō develops a sand battery thermal energy storage system that uses a heat‑conducting tube network combined with insulated sand to provide heating, drying and warming for agricultural users. Current system capacities range from 250 kWh to 1.8 megawatts, and the company is developing industrial versions of its sand battery systems. Alternō positions its technology as a lower‑cost, low‑carbon alternative to lithium‑ion batteries and conventional grid energy for price‑sensitive agricultural customers. The company targets decarbonizing Southeast Asia’s agricultural sector and aims to expand to markets such as Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Alternō highlights benefits including substantial energy cost savings and annual reductions in farm carbon emissions. The company also frames its offering as timely given policies like the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and rising thermal energy demand in agriculture.