Meet the urban mushroom farmer 🍄

Singapore imports 95% of its mushroom demand. Fred wants to bridge this gap with his urban industrial mushroom farms. But, why did he choose mushroom farming, of all the options?

👋 Hola! Welcome to Out of Singapore. I am Shan. I am a failed founder. Right now, I am building brands for a biotech startup in Singapore.

I started writing this newsletter after my first venture failed. For the past 10 months, it has been my own stories. Today is the first story in the series - #FounderStories. I will cover entrepreneurs trying their luck in the market. I will share their stories to inspire readers.

The first guest is Fred. He is the Chief Commercial Officer for Spore Gardens. The company has built high yield mushroom farms in the middle of the island. It can replicate and set up farms in a room as small as 10 sqm. Unofficially, the yield is the highest in the world. I was fascinated from the get go.

Fred (right) showing off the next generation of urban farming in the background

Fred comes from Brunei and understands the intricacies of race in south east Asia deeply. Before we get into details, here is what we will talk about today -

1. Fred’s journey to become a mushroom farmer 🧑‍🌾🍄

2. The world of mushrooms 🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄

3. Tour of the urban mushroom farm 🚎🚎🚎

4. Secrets of Brunei 🤐🤐🤐

Let’s get started!

#1 Mushroom farmer, why?

Fred has had tough last few years. As I have realised now, tough times are gold. He did his MBA from NUS and then went to Entrepreneur First program. The co-founders matching didn’t work for him (you won’t know how unpredictable and pathetic “co-founders” can be 😒).

He didn’t quit (that’s the game 😎) and worked with a few other engineers before meeting John. The founder of Spore Gardens, John, is an aerospace engineer. He has worked on Boing planes for the longest time before quitting before COVID. John decided to start mushroom farming at the height of COVID when Singapore’s food supply chain was disrupted. Combined with his zeal to ensure such a shortage doesn’t happen and government’s support for mushroom and shrimp farming, led to Spore Gardens. John has built the highest yield mushroom farm in the world (non substantiated, but that’s not important). I haven’t had a chance to speak to John yet, so pardon me if details are incorrect.

Back to Fred - Fred was exploring new opportunities after two successive co-founders bailed out. He wasn’t sure and it took him over 3 months to make up his mind.

What changed his mind? The humongous mushroom market! 🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄

#2 The endless possibilities of mushroom

First, let’s compare Mushroom with Chicken and see who wins? Here is what Bard throws out.

Clearly, except protein, Mushroom fares better (yes, it is a simplistic comparison). Mushrooms are nutritious and versatile. What other food is as versatile? Text me 😋

Here are the uses of mushroom, starting with the usuals -

1. Fresh mushroom is a versatile food - can be consumed fresh, dried, pickled or fermented.

2. “Meatless” meat

3. Supplements are made from functional mushrooms like Reishi, lions mane and cordyceps. Tons of studies undergoing on mushrooms for their health benefits.

4. Medicinal use for antiviral, antibiotic and cognition health.

5. Textiles made out of mushroom - eco-friendly and cruelty-free alternatives to traditional leather and textiles.

6. Magic mushrooms, or the psychoactive mushrooms for recreational purposes. Often illegal.

In short, the value chain of mushroom extends from USD 5 per kg to USD 50000 per kg. 🤯

Now imagine owning this entire value chain. That’s the realisation that made Fred a mushroom farmer.

#3 The urban mushroom farm

Fred is an excellent story teller and narrator. He gave me full tour of the urban garden. He is hands on - working the air pressure, humidity and monitoring all by himself.

It’s a lean team. They save costs as any startup should do. They have built an strong credibility with the government, VCs and their consumers. I sampled their mushroom for home cooking, and I have never tasted a mushroom so tasty and juicy.

In their two macro farms, they grow 4 types of mushrooms. My favourite is the lions mane mushroom. It truly looks gorgeous - furry and cute white lions.

I prepared a quick short informative video of Fred demonstrating mushrooms, their growth cycle and what a good mushroom looks like.

#4 Brunei and its secrets

Singapore is a city of immigrants (with a lot more Chinese immigrants than Indians and Malays). Fred comes from Brunei. Naturally, I wanted to know his reasons for choosing Singapore as work location. He had three clear reasons

1. Close to his home, Brunei.

2. Strong growing market.

3. Great launch market for new products.

4. Finally, there is no better place to live as Singapore.

However, however! Here are some things I learnt about Brunei during the conversation (I did some research post the conversation).

1. King of Brunei owns the largest collection of luxury cars in the world - 7000 cars valued at USD 5 bn. 🤯🤯🤯

2. The economy of Brunei is completely oil dependent.

3. Oil production is controlled by Shell. Shell has 50% ownership of Brunei Shell Petroleum Company.

4. People don’t walk in Brunei. They use cars.

5. Oil is dirt cheap at 53 cents per litre.

Brunei is interesting. I have gone down the rabid hole of YouTube looking at videos about the Sultan. 🤣

Coming back to the topic, Spore Gardens has been successful in the B2B space, specially restaurants. It’s ambitions are high and would be expanding into new areas of mushroom. I wish Fred, John and the team at Spore Gardens all the luck for success!

---

Thank you so much for reading this edition. As always, it is a pleasure to have wonderful readers like you. 🥰

Please like the post and share among your friends. Every referral and subscription boosts my motivation to continue writing.

It’s almost 2024! Happy New Year 🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇🎇

I would most probably take a break next Sunday. See you again on 14th January!

Here’s new year wishes from Jisoo, our favourite 💓