Brand new: Wellous, Sprout Organic, Junlebao in the spotlight

Post-merger goals: Wellous gears up for global market expansion, NPD and MarTech capability boost​

Wellous has put in place multi-pronged expansion plans after sealing a US$270 million merger deal with Nasdaq-listed Kairous Acquisition Corporation Limited.

The Malaysia-based company has a rising presence in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Andy Tan, co-founder and CEO of Wellous, told NutraIngredients-Asia​ that the firm would focus on market expansion, product innovation, and upgrading of IT infrastructure post-merger.

Sprouting up: Aussie plant-based formula firm Sprout Organic on Malaysia, Saudi expansion​

Australian plant-based formula firm Sprout Organic is making its debut in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, and at the same time, plans to tap on the growth opportunities in APAC’s dairy-free infant formula market.

Sprout Organic specialises in organic, plant-based infant formula and snacks for kids. Its products are distributed in Australia and New Zealand, both on-shelf in over 1,000 stores and via e-commerce.

The firm told us that it would be expanding to Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, especially when the latter has been witnessing a higher-than-global-average birth rate and a growing middle class.

Cooking on gas: Singapore lingzhi firm enters China via petrol station online site ​​

Listing products on cross-border e-commerce marketplaces is a common way that overseas firms use to enter the China market, but one Singapore firm is also exploring a novel way of cracking the country - such as working with a major petrol station company.

Last year, Singapore start-up HQ Gano, which specialises in Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum​), set foot on the Chinese market by selling its product on Easy Joy, the cross-border e-commerce platform of Sinopec – Beijing-headquartered petroleum and chemical corporation.

The firm also sells its product, HQ Lingzhi capsules – priced at over RMB$300 (US$43) for a box of 30 capsules – via its circle of friends in China.

Dig deep: Junlebao launches nutrition science strategy to enhance science of infant, healthy ageing products​  ​

Junlebao Dairy Group has launched its Nutrition Science Strategy, aiming to strengthen the science behind its products, as well as to identify novel functional ingredients.

For example, in the area of infant nutrition, the company will delve into early science, such as the study of human breast milk components, and work with universities to discover new components from mother’s breastmilk, Celia Ning, director at Junlebao Dairy Group’s Nutrition Research Institute, told us.

More research will also be conducted on nutrition for middle-aged and older consumers, such as conducting clinical trials on the firm’s product formulation.

Competing with the big guys: Thai uni spin-off to launch locally formulated supplement into US and China​ ​

A Thai firm is on a mission to boost the overseas profile of the industry by launching its blood sugar-regulating product in the world’s two largest economies – the US and China.

By June this year, Orient Innovation hopes to introduce its one and only SKU – a softgel supplement marketed as Caminia – into both US and China.

Established by entrepreneur Vichai Kemtongkum, Orient Innovation was set up in 2019 to commercialise a supplement formulated and trialled by scientists from Mahidol University.