Approximately a third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted annually, leading to severe environmental, economic, and social consequences. This not only exacerbates food insecurity but also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, waste of resources, and economic losses. Boston Consulting Group estimates global food wastage at $230 billion annually.

Traditional quality checks are slow, error prone, and costly which leads to recalls and loss of trust. AgNext solves this with its patented AI powered solutions, replacing subjective assessments and lab delays with instant on the spot analysis. The solution brings digitized trust to global food supply chains.

Following this strategic investment by THG, AgNext will integrate Hedera’s cutting-edge distributed ledger technology (DLT) into its assurance and traceability platforms and devices – ensuring 100% traceability, transparency, immutability, and efficiency through self-executing smart contracts, eliminating the need for multiple intermediaries that currently populate the supply chains and drive-up end prices. Hedera being the most scalable, cost-efficient, and energy-efficient among blockchain protocols is especially well-suited for food supply chains.

Taranjeet Bhamra, Founder and CEO of AgNext, commented on the investment, saying: “We are excited to welcome The Hashgraph Group as a valued partner in our mission to revolutionize food supply chains. With THG’s expertise and technology, we are poised to enhance our quality assurance frameworks and create robust transaction assurance systems that will foster transparency and trust in the global agriculture and food sectors. This partnership marks a pivotal step in delivering innovative, cutting-edge solutions to our clients.”

AgNext and THG will also collaborate on joint go-to-market initiatives, including co-branded, Hedera-powered embedded devices, which will be offered to clients globally through a new Web3-centric joint venture established in Switzerland.

Stefan Deiss, Co-Founder & CEO of The Hashgraph Group, said: “THG brings deep expertise in designing, developing, and deploying enterprise-grade solutions on the Hedera network, delivered by our team of highly skilled, Hedera-certified engineers. With this strategic co-investment alongside Novo Holdings, we look forward to embarking on the tech-enablement journey with AgNext to drive the convergence of AI and Blockchain/DLT, while jointly bringing to market Hedera-powered AgriTech solutions that will enhance AgNext’s competitive edge in the Web3 era.”

Hedera leverages its unique Hashgraph consensus algorithm to achieve unmatched speed, security, and scalability. With low, predictable fees and a carbon-negative footprint, Hedera is governed by over 30 Council Members from the world’s leading organizations such as Abrdn, Dell, EDF, Hitachi, Google, IBM, Mondelēz, Standard Bank, and TATA, Hedera provides a trusted, quantum-resistant infrastructure for businesses and institutions worldwide.

Anindya Roychowdhury, Head of Global Partnerships at The Hashgraph Group, stated: “I’ve been closely following AgNext’s remarkable growth since its inception, and I’m thrilled that THG is now partnering with them to leverage Hedera as the foundation for their assurance and traceability platforms. With Taranjeet’s visionary leadership and the capabilities of Hedera, we are confident in creating world-leading, Web3-enabled solutions for the AgriTech industry.”

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Licensed and regulated as a venture capital (VC) fund manager by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), Hashgraph Ventures Manager is planning to launch a $100 million global venture fund (Hashgraph Venture Fund-I) out of ADGM. The strategic Web3 venture fund will focus on generating attractive long-term returns by investing in proven early-stage and well-established companies utilizing deep technologies to build and commercialize enterprise-grade solutions and products for the Web3 economy. 

Stefan Deiss, Co-Founder & CEO of The Hashgraph Group, said: “We have received a lot of interest in our Web3 ventures fund from existing co-investors and ecosystem partners, including government institutions, sovereign wealth funds, venture capital funds, family offices, and other qualified investors. We pay particular attention in the selection of strategic co-investor partners to build a diversified portfolio of assets across target industry sectors. We are focused on generating attractive returns through investment in the convergence of deep technologies intersecting on the Hedera distributed ledger technology (DLT) network, while empowering cross-pollination and the co-creation of long-term enterprise value within a diversified global portfolio of Web3 companies.”

The Hashgraph Association (THA) is seeding the Hashgraph Venture Fund-I (HVF-I) as an anchor investor with USD 20 million, representing 20% of the total fund size. The fund anticipates making strategic investments in Web3 and DeepTech companies that are developing innovative solutions in AI, IoT, Blockchain/DLT, Robotics, and Quantum Computing. The qualified projects also benefit from THG’s well-established Venture Studio Program (VSP), which actively shapes and enables portfolio companies through its expertise in engineering, productization, and commercialization.

Kamal Youssefi, President of The Hashgraph Association, stated: “We believe in co-funding innovative entrepreneurs and enterprises that are building the next generation of Web3 solutions on Hedera that enable financial inclusion with a positive socioeconomic impact. We look forward to this unique opportunity to gain exposure to leading-edge Web3 companies through investment in Hashgraph Ventures Fund and generating long-term capital growth for the Hedera ecosystem.”

The investment strategy of the Hashgraph Venture Fund is focused on generating attractive long-term returns with a positive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impact, while building a strong portfolio of assets that drive economic value in the Web3 space. The fund will only invest in companies that pass a rigorous technical due diligence with demonstrable evidence of tangible commercial traction.

Andrew Forson, Head of Ventures & Investments at The Hashgraph Group, added: “We assess investment opportunities on the basis of key commercial and technological criteria to make well-informed investment decisions, while leveraging our extensive experience and expertise in deep technologies to secure alpha for our investors as we nurture and scale impactful companies across multiple sectors and geographies, driving sustainable innovation that make lives better.”

THG operates globally with a diverse network of co-investment venture studios, which include the “DeepTech Venture Studio” signed with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) earlier this year, the ‘Digital Assets Venture Studio’ in strategic partnership with the Qatar Finance City (QFC), the ‘Web3 Venture Studio’ with IIT Madras in India, and the ‘DeepTech Venture Studio’ in strategic partnership with INNOVX in Morocco, alongside various other co-investment partners.

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The $50 million digital asset venture studio will focus on investments in Hedera-powered Web3 startups and enterprises building bankable DeFi solutions. The program will span over the next five years (2024-2028) with The Hashgraph Association contributing to 20% ($10 million).

The Hashgraph Association will launch a custom-designed Digital Assets Venture Studio to enable local Qatari companies, as well as international portfolio companies to build innovative regulatory-compliant, structured financial products and secure digital asset solutions, which will include the tokenization of real-world financial assets, on the Hedera DLT network.

The Digital Assets Venture Studio will be part of Qatar’s Digital Assets Lab within the QFC Innovation Dome, an initiative launched in December 2023 as part of Qatar’s “National Vision 2030” to accelerate research and development within the digital asset space.

The partnership will focus on delivering legal and regulatory-compliant real-world asset tokenization solutions, providing startups and SMEs with training, financing, engineering, and resources for research and development. THA will also facilitate fintech events such as the Web Summit in Qatar to showcase developments in the digital asset space, enhancing Qatar’s visibility as a leading hub for decentralized finance and digital assets.

Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, Board Member and Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Financial Centre, noted, “The Qatar Financial Centre is pleased to welcome The Hashgraph Association Digital Assets Venture Studio to the QFC Digital Assets Lab. This partnership is closely aligned with Qatar’s fintech strategy and is instrumental in advancing our efforts in developing and launching innovative projects that establish the country as a financial and commercial hub by 2030.”

Kamal Youssefi, President of The Hashgraph Association, said: “We are delighted to sign this strategic partnership with the Qatar Financial Centre in Doha Qatar. We are committed to investing and fostering the growth of a vibrant Web3 and DLT/Blockchain ecosystem with a special focus on decentralized finance and digital assets in support of Qatar’s Vision 2030 aimed at fostering an innovative regulatory compliant digital economy.”

In line with a broader strategy to accelerate development in the MENA region, this partnership follows previous milestones from THA. Earlier this year, THA signed a strategic partnership with the Saudi Ministry of Investment (MISA), for a $250 million DeepTech Venture Studio focused on enabling the convergence of deep technologies such as AI, IoT, Blockchain/DLT, Robotics, and Quantum Computing.

Stefan Deiss, Co-Founder & CEO of The Hashgraph Group, said: “We are excited to launch our Swiss/Qatari government-endorsed Digital Asset Venture Studio in Doha that will empower the next generation of Web3 financial entrepreneurs by supporting the launch of structured financial products and tokenized financial solutions, leveraging financial instruments and investment structures such as equity, funds, real estate and aircraft financing.”

Switzerland in collaboration with THA will be offering an entrepreneur exchange program to enable entrepreneurs from Qatar to travel to Switzerland and vice versa, backed by the Canton of Schwyz.

As part of this launch, THA, alongside co-investment and ecosystem partners, will also launch a sandbox to pilot use cases leveraging Hedera technology. For more information on this pilot, visit https://hashgraph-association.com/.

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