N&E Innovations Raises $1.7 Mn to Take Food-Waste Antimicrobial Overseas

Singapore-based deeptech startup N&E Innovations has raised A$2.4 Mn, or about $1.73 Mn, in Series A funding to expand its antimicrobial technology internationally, according to media reports.

Australian agrifood investor Tundra Capital led the round, with Singapore’s government-owned deeptech investor SGInnovate, The Radical Fund, Archipelago VC and SG7 Group participating alongside existing backers Cercano, SEEDS Capital, Elev8 Capital and Qian Hu Corporation.

The capital will support market entry and local teams in the UK, Germany, Vietnam, Taiwan and Australia. N&E also plans to accelerate regulatory approvals, extend its technology into areas including large-scale agriculture, and hire country managers, sales personnel and regulatory specialists.

From Cashew Waste to an Antimicrobial Ingredient

Didi Gan and materials scientist Jaslyn Lee founded N&E in 2020. The company converts agricultural by-products, including material discarded during cashew processing, into an antimicrobial ingredient called ViKANG99. A July 2026 Tatler profile described Lee as the company’s former CTO.

Instead of selling a single finished product, the company is positioning ViKANG99 as an ingredient that can be applied directly to fresh produce or incorporated into packaging, cling film and cleaning products. N&E describes it as food-grade and edible and says it can keep fresh produce fresh for up to four times longer. However, these performance and safety statements are company claims.

N&E was granted a US patent on March 10, 2026, but it is not a standalone food-preservation filing. Filed in 2021, it covers a face mask, related composites and iron–iron oxide compositions incorporating the extract of cashew testa, the papery brown skin peeled off the nut during processing. The patent does not independently substantiate the company’s food-safety or shelf-life claims.

Commercial applications include The Orange Wrap, a cling film containing ViKANG99, and the KeepWell cleaning and hygiene range. N&E also plans to launch Post-Harvest Wash and Post-Harvest Guard later this year, targeting mould and microbial growth during produce storage and transport, according to FoodBev.

In its fundraising announcement, N&E said it already worked at commercial scale with Freshening Industries, Singapore supermarket operator Sheng Siong and Malaysia’s Obtech Corporation.

The Commercialisation Test

The round’s remit is broader compared to its size. N&E is simultaneously targeting food packaging, cleaning products and post-harvest agriculture while entering five overseas markets.

That breadth gives the technology several potential revenue routes, but it also creates an execution burden. Food-contact materials, direct produce treatments and cleaning products pass through different regulatory, validation and procurement processes. By assigning capital specifically to approvals and country-level hires, N&E is signalling that market access has become as important as further product development.

Tundra’s role is aligned with that next phase. Its agrifood focus and Australian base give N&E an investor connected to one of the company’s priority expansion markets.

The Series A, therefore, marks a transition from demonstrating that agricultural waste can become a usable antimicrobial ingredient to proving that the technology can win approvals, repeat orders and distribution at scale. Those commercial milestones, not the fourfold shelf-life claim alone, will determine whether ViKANG99 can become a defensible international materials platform.