Potato Impact Partners (PIP) is a social venture amplifying positive impacts in education, food security, and sustainability through innovative collaborations between the US and Southeast Asia (SEA). PIP manages university partnerships to engage youth, collaborations with changemakers to represent the diverse voices of SEA, and makes impact investments in innovative seaweed aquaculture startups. PIP is the US-based subsidiary of Potato Productions, a group of social ventures in Singapore spanning design, media, publishing, film and entertainment, education, healthcare, and technology, founded by Lee Han Shih.
External link for Potato Impact Partners
284 River Valley Rd
Singapore, SG
San Francisco, US
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Do you want to be key in building the global seaweed industry? We are hiring a 🌟CFO to Ocean Rainforest Read more and apply 👇 Marc von Keitz Olavur Ellefsen Beinta Unni Marr Farah Chams Paul Dobbins Johnny Kahlbetzer Peter Bryant James Lindsay Carolina Manhusen Schwab Martin Schwab Tessa Charupatanapongse, M.S.Ed Halldor S. Christian Rehder Magni Arge Know anyone who might be interested?
We’re pleased to announce our investment in the CA$4 million Series A financing round of Cascadia Seaweed, the largest cultivator and processor of seaweed-derived agricultural products in North America, alongside Vere Ventures, WWF Impact (the impact investing arm of World Wildlife Fund US), Norfolk Green Ventures, Realize Impact, and more. Based in Canada, Cascadia Seaweed sustainably cultivates high-quality kelp in partnership with First Nations communities and converts it into biostimulants and agrifeed. They have developed FieldKelp, a liquid kelp extract, and are currently developing RegenaGrow, a biostimulant. Both products serve as natural solutions for farmers to enrich plant resilience and growth, greatly increasing crop yields and enabling regenerative agriculture. The investment will fund the building of a commercial-scale seaweed biorefinery on the West Coast, increasing biomass production, and sales and marketing. Cascadia Seaweed’s scalable nature-based solutions reduce the need for industrial chemical products; improve crop health, resilience and yields; and lower farming emissions—thereby helping alleviate global food insecurity and climate change. We are very excited to support co-founders Michael Williamson, William Collins, and Tony Ethier, as well as CFO Robert Napoli, chief scientist Dr. Jennifer Clark, VP of Operations Matthew Obee and the rest of the team at Cascadia Seaweed in their journey. 🌊 Learn more about the investment in their announcement below. Sarah Wan-Yau, Tessa Charupatanapongse, M.S.Ed, Bernice Tang, Linda Tran #CascadiaSeaweed #sustainablefood #seaweed #aquaculture #investment #oceaninvesting #impactinvesting #innovation #climate
Cascadia Seaweed Accelerates Expansion with First Series A Milestone! Cascadia Seaweed is excited to announce the successful first close of our Series A Funding Round, raising CAD$4 M of our CAD$7 M target. Equally important is the quality of investors we are welcoming in this round, including WWF Impact (the impact investing arm of World Wildlife Fund US), Vere Ventures, Potato Impact Partners, VertueLab Climate Impact Fund, Realize Impact, the Real Estate Foundation of BC, Norfolk Green Ventures and other valued investors. With this new funding, we’re gearing up for major growth! The capital will help us: ✅ Build a commercial-scale seaweed biorefinery on the West Coast, ✅ Expand our ocean cultivation operations, and ✅ Scale up sales and marketing for our liquid kelp extracts and livestock products! This first close marks a huge leap forward, but the journey is not over. Investment opportunities are still available for qualified investors ready to dive into the rapidly growing seaweed industry at this pivotal moment. To learn more about our incredible partners and what’s next for Cascadia Seaweed, visit https://lnkd.in/g-yuyGqZ ____ Ken Vaughn Tessa C. Sophia Sartiano Paul Dobbins Todd Paige Bloomsbury Natural Capital Bloomberg Green
The Potato Impact Partners team will be in Singapore for the 2024 Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit (November 19th-21st), held as a part of Singapore International Agri-Food Week by Singapore Food Agency and Enterprise Singapore in partnership with Temasek. Over the course of three days, the summit will cover climate adaptation, decarbonization, and nourishment in fields ranging from agri-tech to aquaculture. We’re looking forward to hearing more about the role that emerging sustainable seaweed markets will play in accelerating climate resilience, and how we as ocean impact investors can contribute to growing a healthy, nutritious economy in Asia. If you’ll be in Singapore and want to connect with us at the summit, please reach out! Check out their website to read more about the 2024 Agri-food Innovation Summit: https://lnkd.in/ekPdsnQ Graphic by: Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit Sarah Wan-Yau, Tessa Charupatanapongse, M.S.Ed, Bernice Tang, Linda Tran #AgriFoodWeek #agriculture #agricultureinnovation #sustainableagriculture #agritech #aquaculture #sustainableseaweed #potatoimpactpartners
As impact investors backing seaweed innovation, we were thrilled to see seaweed named as a key area of growth to watch in the ocean space at the recent #GIINImpactForum in Amsterdam! We’d also like to express our gratitude to Dale Galvin of Deliberate Capital, LLC, Gayle Peterson of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and Lisa Tucker of The Nature Conservancy for sharing your insights. The message is clear: More capital needs to go towards marine resources conservation, and we need to take responsibility to protect the ocean from the overexploitation of its resources. In this, seaweed, a sustainable and versatile resource, could be pivotal as a nature-based solution for ocean health, restoration and resilience, with both environmental and social impact. 🌊 We were delighted to be part of The Global Impact Investing Network gathering of such a wide community of impact investors spanning across geographies, industries and asset classes, all working together to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. Great to catch up with Maud Savary-Mornet of GIIN, Ronald Tardiff of 1000 Ocean Startups, Kristiane Davidson of Ocean Born Foundation, and Maxime Freyss of Südlich Capital! Sarah Wan-Yau, Tessa Charupatanapongse, M.S.Ed, Bernice Tang, Linda Tran #GIIN #impactinvesting #impactinvestors #impactmeasurement #IMM #seaweed #sustainablefinance #impactinnovation #blueeconomy #oceanresilience #oceaninnovation #oceanimpact #SDG14
Last week, we attended the 1000OS Annual Gathering in Amsterdam Oct 21-22, which brought together 49 organizations backing ocean impact startups with investment, mentorship, and visibility. Thank you to Ronald Tardiff, Sam Zak, Sofía Milian and Yu Jie Law at 1000 Ocean Startups for this opportunity to connect with everyone! Among the key insights we took away from the gathering was that to catalyze more investments into the ocean space, we need: 🌊Education & Advocacy → To do more stakeholder education, raise awareness of the urgent challenges confronting the ocean—and so humankind—and inspire and find more investors who are comfortable with investing through alternative financing. 🌊Capital → To make sure we are giving the right type of capital to entrepreneurs and plugging in holes where it is needed. 🌊Community → To pick the right partners with the same shared values to go on the journey together. 🌊Track record & Transparency → To make known and spread the word about the good work and results achieved by ocean impact startups and investors—and we need more funders joining us. We also felt inspired as we met with many more investors and other individuals driving positive change in the blue economy: Conner Lachenbruch, Gracie White, and Jan Yoshioka of Conservation International Ventures LLC; Chris Wu of Builders Vision; Laura F. Rodriguez Harker of Builders Initiative; Ted Janulis of Investable Oceans; Ingrid H. Maurstad of Katapult Ocean; Thijn van Doorne and Chen Zhu of Aqua-Spark; Virginia Pan, Olivier Raybaud 海力维and Christian Lim of SWEN Capital Partners; Ann Lee Carpenter of Braid Theory; Kristiane Davidson of Ocean Born Foundation; Maxime Freyss of Südlich Capital; Laura Francis of Sea Forward Fund; Adrien Vincent; Markus Böhm and JV P. of Planet Ocean Fund; Antoine Fabre of Mirova; and Rita Sousa of Faber, among more. A huge thank you to everyone for your contributions! #1000OceanStartups #impactinvesting #oceanresilience #blueeconomy #oceaninnovation #oceanimpact #SDG14 #investing #seaweed
Next week, our team will be in Amsterdam for the The Global Impact Investing Network's 2024 Impact Forum (October 23-24). As a new member of GIIN, we look forward to connecting with fellow impact investors, partnering, learning from and contributing to this dynamic community. We are committed #impactinvestors in sustainable seaweed aquaculture, seeking meaningful, productive impact in the areas of food security, climate adaptation and mitigation, and resilient coastal communities. If you're attending the conference and would like to connect with us, feel free to reach out to any of our team members via LinkedIn direct message or the conference app. To find out more about the 2024 GIIN Impact Forum, check out: https://lnkd.in/euTChqtx Sarah Wan-Yau Tessa Charupatanapongse, M.S.Ed Bernice Tang #seaweed #aquaculture #impactinvesting #GIIN #sdg14 #blueeconomy #coastalcommunities #oceanresilience #climateaction #potatoimpactpartners #investments #sustainable
We're proud to be part of the 1000 Ocean Startups community! The coalition is the largest global ocean innovation and investment network with some $1.5 billion in AUM. It has backed 380 transformative ocean startups to date, and remains committed to support at least 1000 by 2030. We'll be at the 1000 OS Annual Gathering and OCEANOVATION in Amsterdam Oct 21-22. Looking forward to seeing everyone there! Sarah Wan-Yau Tessa Charupatanapongse, M.S.Ed Bernice Tang #1000OceanStartups #OceanInnovation #BlueEconomy #sustainability #investing #oceanimpact #SDG14 #impactinvesting
🌊 Celebrate ocean innovation with us in Amsterdam! As we close out the 1000 Ocean Startups Annual Gathering on the eve of the The Global Impact Investing Network Impact Forum, 1000OS is organizing a closing reception in collaboration with OCEANOVATION! 🌐 The 1000OS Annual Gathering: The Ocean Nexus, explores how ocean-based innovations can tackle global challenges like climate change, food security and the energy transition, while unlocking new opportunities for sustainable growth. 5️⃣ 0️⃣ Join 50+ leading entrepreneur-supporting organisations backing blue economy start-ups as we gather to reflect on the transformative investments and innovations that are charting the course towards a regenerative ocean economy. 🦪 Featuring nature’s ocean superheroes — oysters — the reception offers a unique opportunity for meaningful conversations, shared insights and fresh ideas as we work together to accelerate the regenerative blue economy. Innovators, investors and thought leaders warmly encouraged to apply. 🎟 Request a ticket here: https://lnkd.in/d2vh4Ap8 📅 Date: Monday 21 October from 18:30h to 21:00h ⏰ Deadline to request a ticket: Monday 14 October #1000OceanStartups #OceanInnovation #OceanImpact #Networking #BlueEconomy #SDG14 #TheOceanNexus
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At the beginning of September, we hosted our second Seaweed Squad call, bringing together investors and seaweed experts across three continents. Thank you to Aly Rose at CREO for co-hosting the call with us and James Lindsay for giving a talk and sharing more about the work at Builders Vision. The Seaweed Squad call was a chance for investors interested in seaweed to learn more about the opportunities and challenges in the space and also to connect with other investors in the space who are interested in creating impact through seaweed investments. If you’d like to join a future Seaweed Squad call, please register your interest here: https://lnkd.in/giMk53kz Laura Frey Sophia DiPaolo Steven Hermans Ross Brooks Maureen Brésil PJ Mistry Zachary Nice Tauhid Pandji Mary Ann Beyster Laura Francis Michele Soeryadjaya Fabio Greco Eva Somers Kristiane Davidson Denzyl Khoo Monica Jain Hanna Raftell Nelson Ng Alexander Kotchoubey Michael Rosen Michael Wiegert Sarah Wan-Yau Bernice Tang Natalie Longmire-Kulis Tessa Charupatanapongse, M.S.Ed #sustainablefood #seaweed #innovation #investment #PotatoImpactPartners #impact #impactinvestment #ocean #climate #sustainability
Our Managing Director, Sarah Wan-Yau, represented Potato Impact Partners last month at the Seagriculture Conference in Ketchikan, Alaska. Sarah spoke on a seaweed investing panel that included Ivan Ivanov of IFC - International Finance Corporation, Paul Dobbins of World Wildlife Fund, and Jason Mitchell of Norfolk Green Ventures. She shared Potato Impact Partners’ perspective on impact investing in seaweed as a nature-based solution for global food security and the blue economy. We were also thrilled to reconnect with familiar faces—Karlotta Rieve of Hatch Blue, Bailey Moritz of WWF, Nichole Price of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, and Douglas Bush of Ocean Rainforest—and meet new folks like Michael Williamson and Matthew Obee of Cascadia Seaweed, Mike Blakeley of Seagreen Insights, and Taylor Holshouser of Builders Vision, who are all passionate about seaweed's potential. We were also inspired by the US seaweed farmers supported by GreenWave. A huge thank you to the State of Alaska, Mariculture Cluster, Southeast Conference, Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce, and others for their support. #seagricultureUSA, #bluefoods, #impactinvesting #aquaculture #seaweed #innovation #investment #PotatoImpactPartners
We recently visited our portfolio company Sea6 Energy Pvt Ltd.’s pilot farm for fully mechanized tropical seaweed production in the beautiful Ekas Bay in Lombok, Indonesia. As a testbed for optimizing efficiency, productivity and conditions for growing and harvesting, the 1-sq-km site will serve as a replicable model for Sea6 to scale mechanized production of high-quality spinosum while bringing down costs. The local Sea6 team demonstrated the use of the machinery capable of seeding, harvesting and detangling seaweed at scale, such as the SeaCombine, SeaHarvester and SeaCotek – all designed by Sea6 and built in-house in Bali by the local engineering team. Huge thanks to Akshat Shah, Hrishikesh Ranjalkar, Agus Sastra Wiguna and their team for hosting us, and walking us through the processes in such a well-organized, information-packed and fun itinerary (with fresh coconuts thrown in!). Equally inspiring for us was to witness the passion, pride and camaraderie of the local team as they shared with us their work. Mahima Jaini Alifandi Agusta Widyanto Sarah Wan-Yau Natalie Longmire-Kulis Tessa Charupatanapongse, M.S.Ed Bernice Tang Mary Lee #seaweed #aquaculture #tropical #innovation #PotatoImpactPartners #impactinvesting #eucheumatoids #eucheuma #indonesia #engineering