APFS funds make investments in agriculture and food tech

Industry

Published: 20 Sep. 2022, 16:14 Updated: 20 Sep. 2022, 19:00

APFS funds make investments in agriculture and food tech

Meal-kit products from Fresheasy and other companies are sold at a discount mart in Seoul on Feb. 21. [NEWS1]

The Agricultural Goods Fund of Funds has invested in a wide range of food tech companies in Korea over the past 12 years, bringing together private and public money to promote promising businesses.

The Agriculture Policy Insurance & Finance Service (APFS), which is under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, runs the fund, which is focused on so-called "pump-priming" in making food tech companies grow.

Some of the companies supported are Market Kurly, Fresheasy and Hello Nature.

Samsam Haemul Seafood company, a seafood company that is involved in the catching of fish, packaging, meal-kit production and delivery, has increased sales steadily since 2017 with the help of the fund.

The company is known for sending out packaged seafood freshly caught from Geoje, South Gyeongsang, within just 33 hours. It constructed a production plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi in July and started producing home-meal replacements (HMR).

HMR refers to substitutes for home cooking that includes ready-to-eat meals and meal kits.

This year, the company is expected a 290-percent increase in sales. Three funds have invested a total of 5.8 billion won ($4.17 million) in the Samsam Haemul Seafood company from the end of last year to this May.

Of the 1 trillion won invested by the fund, 37 percent was from the government, 43 percent from domestic capital and 20 percent from return on investment.

APFS funds helped the growth of mid and small-sized firms, making investments in 577 companies and 24 firms going public.

The APFS says that the profitability of the funds has been high while sales and employment have increased as a result of the investments.

BY SOHN HAE-YONG [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]