Singapore, 11th of Dec 2017 – Local clean tech startup EcoWorth Tech (“EWT”), a specialist in waste-to-worth industrial water treatment solutions, announced that it has raised S$1 million in seed funding round. The financing was secured from technology commercialization and venture building firm Budding Innovations, a private investment group and FundedHere, a leading Singapore-based crowdfunding platform. Commenting on the funding, Dr. Bert Grobben, founder and chairman of EWT, said: “We see a significant opportunity to drive positive impact on the industrial water and waste treatment industry and, more importantly, society at large. Water shortage is a major global concern due to population growth & industrial usage and our solution addresses these needs and offers waste-to-worth opportunities.” Singapore-based crowdfunding platform FundedHere raised S$300,000 for EWT in a campaign led by Mr. Geoffrey Boyd, who said: “EcoWorth Tech’s technology is not only highly advanced but will have a meaningful impact on our community. Being cost efficient, it makes sense for users on multiple fronts. The investors are encouraged by the depth and breadth of the management team and we are glad to be part of EcoWorth Tech.” EcoWorth Tech, which is part of a vibrant local ecosystem focused on water-related technologies, will use the proceeds to expand its business and trial its products with leading multinational corporations on an industrial scale. EWT is one of a growing number of ventures that have been successfully enabled by Budding Innovations’ POLARISTM program. Mr. Andre Stolz, co-founder and CEO of EWT, said: “Our success in scaling the technology and securing early-stage pilot customers puts us in prime position to take the business to the next level. EcoWorth Tech offers a ‘game-changing’ CleanTech solution with superior performance and significant cost reduction while being environmentally friendly.” * End of Press Release * About EcoWorth Tech Founded in 2016, EcoWorth Tech is a waste-to-worth solution partner that specialises in transforming waste materials into reusable products while delivering social and environmental benefits. The Singaporean startup commercialises an innovative, sustainable technology called ‘Carbon Fibre Aerogel’, developed at Nanyang Technological University to treat industrial wastewater. For more information, visit: www.ecoworth-tech.com About FundedHere Launched in March 2015, FundedHere is a Singapore-headquartered equity- and lending- based crowdfunding platform targeting startups in Southeast Asia. In March 2016, it obtained its Capital Market Services License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, permitting it to issue shares. To date, FundedHere has raised over S$6 million through 16 campaigns. For more information, visit: www.fundedhere.com About Budding Innovations Budding Innovations Pte. Ltd. (“BI”) is a Singapore-headquartered Venture Builder and Solutions Provider. BI works with its clients to transform problem statements into in-market executions. BI provides technology and organizational leadership and integrates a wide industry range of capabilities. BI effectively takes technology to market and plays an active role in the end-to-end commercialization, through its bespoke strategic capability partner ecosystem, and wide market opportunity access. BI drives commercialization through eventually transferring appropriately matured programs to a corporate client, into a self- managed start-up, or driving a technology portfolio approach on behalf of its clients. Technology verticals centre around Advanced materials, CleanTech, Life Sciences and MedTech. BI also engages in Corporate Entrepreneurship & Open Innovation programs (NEBULATM) and offers entrepreneurial internship programs to young entrepreneurs, grows their skill sets and contributes towards building a vibrant start-up scene in Singapore. BI’s POLARISTM program provides interim executive leadership to early stage start-ups, to actively develop them to the next fundable stage(s). For more information, visit: www.buddinginnovations.com

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Aurea Biolabs (P) Limited and Budding Innovations Pte. Ltd. (BI) announced today the start of a collaborative program that will enable product innovations, based on sustainably sourced Bioactive ingredients. Building from Aurea Biolab’s Nutraceutical expertise, BI will channel these critical capabilities in this space, towards developing innovative Health and Wellness products. Leveraging Aurea Biolabs capabilities to isolate, extract, characterize and formulate Bioactives from traceable sources, BI will be able to drive value for its clients, who seek to tap into upcoming Bioactive ingredient trends. This collaboration will also add key opportunities to deliver higher bio-availability for complex natural ingredients, which still remains a key challenge for many natural active ingredients today. “Budding Innovations is addressing a raising market demand for sustainably sourced products, that harness the goodness from nature,” said Dr. Bert Grobben, CEO of Budding Innovations. “We have active programs in place with a demand for nutraceuticals in several industry sectors. This partnership with Aurea Biolabs will enable us to design and develop meaningful functional product innovations. Their approach towards sustainable sourcing of materials also enables for repurposing of agricultural by-products, and deliver incremental socio-economic impact among the local farmer community.” The global nutraceutical market is set to grow to a $285B USD opportunity by 2021 at CAGR of 7.5%. Lifestyle changes, and ecological demands will continue to challenge the market to deliver meaningful product and sourcing innovations. Aurea Biolabs and BI aim to tap into this market potential and deliver a growing number of value added nutraceutical based products. Aurea Bioloab (P) Limited (http://www.aureabiolabs.com) is focused on nutraceutical product development, extraction, isolation and formulation of bio-active ingredients. Backed by sustainable and traceable raw material sourcing with a long history of partnership with growers, Aurea Biolabs has a strong pipeline of nutraceutical application driven products in various phases of R&D. It has diverse development capabilities in the Health & Wellness domain, and operates state of the art research facilities to deliver science based and clinically proven nutraceuticals. Budding Innovations Pte. Ltd. (BI) (www.buddinginnovations.com) is a Singapore based Technology Solutions Provider and Venture Builder. BI works with its clients to transform problem statements into in-market executions. We provide technology and organizational leadership, and integrate a wide industry range of capabilities in what we build. BI’s Nebula™ Open Innovator program develops individual’s (corporate) entrepreneur skills, while Polaris™ deploys interim Executive Management resources to a start-up, in order to grow it to the next fundable stage(s). With Corporate clients, we work to close the maturity gap between new innovations and the needs of the Brand, and own the executional role in the end-to-end product commercialization. Headquartered in Singapore, BI engages in an active local entrepreneurial and start-up ecosystem. Through talent development and growth of young entrepreneurs’ skillset, BI contributes towards building a vibrant innovation scene in Singapore.

EcoWorth Tech was BI's first incubatee, as an NTU spin-out, when we started in September 2015. In only 9 months time, we incubated what was originally a promising patented technology, into an operating Start-up with this technology translated into applications that are generating strong traction with potential customers. We introduced EcoWorth Tech to the public and the media during InnovFest UnBound, in Marina Bay Sands on May 17-18. Over the 2 days, we received very positive feedback on the market relevance of the Carbon Fiber Aerogel, and the intended applications. The foundations have also been laid for productive discussions with interested investors. We are extremely pleased, and excited, to have been awarded the "Hottest Opportunity" during the Institute of Higher Learning Technology Pitching. Seeing that our incubatee is recognised with this award by the jury, is energising for us to keep working hard to push EcoWorth Tech forward, as well as all other incubatees in our portfolio.

Budding Innovations will be implementing benefit plans to help take care of our people, and help our people to take care of business. Today, BI is implementing Uber for Business. No more need for our staff to pay out of pocket, and reimburse later. Implementing Uber for Business will help keep overheads low, keep our processes simple, and save all of us a bit of time.

Back in August 2017, Budding Innovations participated as a partner in IPWeek@SG. We look back at a successful event, with many new connections. Have a look at the released video of the interview, in which we summarise our event views and take-aways. We'll be back next year!

Budding Innovations [BI] has the support of Deep-Tech Entrepreneurs at the core of its operations. BI has built a service model that caters towards providing Entrepreneurs, Start-ups, Scale-ups and SMEs access to an extensive toolbox of capabilities and expertise they will need throughout their journey. For overseas businesses, we understand how daunting it can be to expand into another country, let alone another region. Based on BI's local presence in Singapore, and the heart of ASEAN, we deeply understand what it takes to set up businesses here, and expand further from a Singapore HQ into the region. We are here to support overseas companies with their expansion as a consultant, or a hands on involved local partner. Please reach out if you want to learn more about our services, and what we can do for you specifically. One such support area is related to applying for Work Permits for your foreign Deep-Tech talents in Singapore. As a Startup SG EntrePass Partner [Government-recognized incubator/accelerator], international Deep-Tech entrepreneurs and businesses that are part of the BI collaboration portfolio will have EntrePass applications prioritised. All other criteria for EntrePass applications are explained in brief below. For more information, and to start a conversation on how BI can support you in setting up in Singapore, please contact us via our website, or Applications@budinno.com

Athlede announces that is has opened up registrations for athletes to join up for the Beta trials. While the objective of a Beta Test is stated as such, Athlede envisions to achieve a lifelong connection with its beta testers on a more personal level. The Beta testing is more of a means to an end rather than an end in itself. Athlede will actively keep in touch with our beta testing community, gathering feedbacks and opinions that would make Athlede wearable and the beta test experience itself the best it could be. Sign up here: https://www.athlede.sg/beta-test