Exclusive: Food packaging tech start-up seeks lead investor in $7m Pre-Series A

  • 22 November 2021
IXON Food Technology’s investment round includes capital from meat processing and packaging giants Cargill, Thai Union and Sealed Air
IXON
Hong-Kong start-up has developed packaging to keep food fresh for two years at room temperature

Food sterilisation specialist IXON Food Technology is seeking a lead investor to contribute to its $7 million Pre-series A investment round, which will close in January 2022. 

Hong-Kong-based IXON Food Technology has developed a meat sterilisation technology based on the sous vide vacuum-sealed cooking method. 

The start-up is seeking investment to fund the launch of its first-commercial product suite.  

“We have Sealed Air, Cargill and Thai Union on board [as investors] and we are now trying to find a lead investor,” IXON Food Technology founder and CEO Felix Cheung told NutritionInvestor.

“We will use $5 million of that capital to support our two-and-a-half year runway where we will deliver a commercial product line for our alpha customer to show we have the ability to scale up and also prove the technology works,” Cheung added. 

It currently works with major food manufacturers Cargill and Thai Union Group, as well as packaging and chemical providers Ecolab, Mitsui Chemicals and Sealed Air. 

“Our clients can either be meat processors or meat packers and our incoming revenue stream has three parts, product development, design fee and royalties for our unique technology,” Cheung said.

IXON’s Advanced Sous vide Aseptic Packaging (ASAP) can keep meat, fish and seafood fresh at room temperature for up to two years, enabling meat processors to cut down on the high distribution costs associated with transporting food via refrigerated vehicles. 

“If we can package the meat to be stored at room temperature, you basically circumvent the cold chain and you have lower shipping costs and can actually ship directly to the consumer,” the CEO  added. 

“[The technology] basically solves most of the challenges in the food industry today, ranging from food safety and sustainability, food insecurity, malnutrition and urbanisation because people are living in smaller houses now.”

The company is also planning to establish a European base in Italy as part of its work with Sealed Air. The packaging provider co-develops IXON’s ASAP equipment. 

IXON is openly seeking other microbiology start-ups to co-produce research studies that will provide further data on food sterilisation and its ASAP technology to potential commercial partners. 

It previously raised $3 million in a 2017 Seed round.