First Bite: Pre-founding and very early-stage initiative providing smaller cheques to founders even earlier in their… Grant

About this grant

Better Bite Ventures operates First Bite, a pre-founding and very early-stage investment initiative providing smaller cheques to founders in the food, agriculture, and climate technology sectors across Asia Pacific. The programme addresses major climate opportunities in food systems, agriculture, and land use, including reducing emissions in rice production, improving crop yields while reducing synthetic fertilizer usage, food waste reduction, sustainable protein and ingredient innovation, algal innovation, and tackling deforestation through alternatives to palm oil. First Bite supports startups at the founding and pre-seed stages with investments typically ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 and above, using founder-friendly SAFEs as the primary investment instrument.

Eligibility

Startups operating in food and agriculture, sustainable ingredients, climate-friendly protein, algal innovation, and related climate-tech sectors focused on Asia Pacific regions. The programme targets very early-stage founders at pre-founding, founding, and pre-seed stages. No geographic restrictions are explicitly stated beyond a focus on Asia Pacific impact. No specific prior-recipient restrictions mentioned.

How it's scored

Applications are evaluated through a multi-stage process beginning with deck review by the founding partners (Michal, Simon, and Eshan). Selected applicants proceed to a first call to assess the team, vision, and market fit. Further assessment involves detailed questions about market, technology, and team, potentially including data-room review and conversations with existing portfolio founders. A go/no-go decision is made based on this assessment before proceeding to termsheet negotiation. The evaluation appears to emphasise team quality, technology innovation, market opportunity in climate-positive food systems, and founder-investor fit.

Key requirements

• ✓Founders at ideation or formation stage (pre-formal pre-seed)
• ✓Focus on food, agriculture, or climate-tech sectors
• ✓Smaller cheques up to $100,000

Recent past awardees

Knowing who's won the last rounds tells you whether you're in the strike zone.

• Pivot Eat
• Blue Canopy
• Green Rebel
• Revtech
• Liberate Foods
• Next Gen Foods
• Tamarindo
• Loam Biotech

Funder contact

The notice names a programme contact you can speak to before applying.

Frequently asked questions

How much funding does Better Bite Ventures offer?

First Bite: Pre-founding and very early-stage initiative providing smaller cheques to founders even earlier in their… offers up to $100K.

Who can apply for First Bite: Pre-founding and very early-stage initiative providing smaller cheques to founders even earlier in their…?

Eligibility covers organisations in GLOBAL; startup, individual. See the eligibility criteria above for the full conditions.

Relevant sectors

About this sector

Alternative protein funding backs plant-based, fermentation-derived and cultivated proteins, along with the ingredients and processing they depend on. Support includes research grants, scale-up programmes and investment from specialist funds. Calls usually look for regulatory awareness, a route to lower production cost and partnerships with food manufacturers.