Feeding the Future: Isabelle Decitre and ID Capital’s Mission in Asia-Pacific Agrifoodtech

“I’ve always believed that the most exciting breakthroughs happen at the crossroads of disciplines,” she says. Trained as an engineer at École Polytechnique in France, Decitre was exposed early to the first discussions of engineering biology, well before synthetic biology entered the mainstream. She then spent two decades in senior innovation, marketing and business roles at global luxury brands including Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Hennessy. While working for Hennessy, she recalls, “biotechnology resurfaced in my life and reawakened that part of my scientific brain.”

The turning point came in 2012, when Decitre relocated to Singapore. Seeing both the immense food-security challenges and the potential for innovation across the region, she founded ID Capital, an investment and advisory firm focused on agrifoodtech in the Asia-Pacific.

Today, ID Capital backs a diverse portfolio of startups, including Allozymes, which uses microfluidics and AI to screen enzyme variants, and Regrow, which helps farmers measure the impact of regenerative practices using satellite data. The firm typically invests deal-by-deal at the pre-Series A and Series A stages. She also helped found Future Food Asia, the region’s first dedicated startup competition and conference. “We wanted to give visibility to the entrepreneurs addressing Asia’s unique needs and help connect them to capital, partners, and global markets,” Decitre explains.

The need for innovation in Asia’s agriculture and foodtech sectors is urgent. As things stand, by 2050 the Asia-Pacific region will host 67% of the world’s hungry, 64% of its population will live in cities, and up to 37% of agricultural production will be lost post-harvest.1 “That challenge — and its potential to reshape how we feed the world — convinced me I was exactly where I needed to be,” she continues. 

Decitre brings a measured view of venture capital. While she recognizes the transformative role of VC, she cautions that not all business models fit neatly into traditional funding cycles. “Venture capital is poorly suited to financing capex-heavy companies,” she notes, adding that patient, long-term capital is often more appropriate for scaling agrifood technologies. 

Decitre’s understanding of Asia’s fragmented innovation landscape shapes ID Capital’s strategy. “It can be tempting to think that a base in Singapore gives you seamless access to the whole region,” she says. “But each market has its own dynamics, and success depends on building local understanding and relationships. Once you learn how to work across these ecosystems—which we see as part of our core know-how—you uncover some of the best opportunities: reasonably valued, rooted in strong science and entrepreneurship, and connected to very large addressable markets.”

At SynBioBeta 2026, Decitre will join the panel “What, Where, How: Understand Which Biomanufacturing Strategies Are Best for Which Products?” 

She plans to discuss the promise of ‘mid-range’ fermentation products—between low-volume, high-value products that fermentation makes well and large-scale commodities that remain uncompetitive with fermentation. “It’s both a way to demonstrate the broader potential of synthetic biology and to test whether this long-term vision can move beyond utopia,” she says. Her panel will attract leaders and innovators across agritech, biomanufacturing, and the bioeconomy—from the Middle East to China—along with synthetic biology enthusiasts eager to hear from someone with a unique perspective doing meaningful work.

Beyond the immediate horizon, Decitre is intrigued by emerging fields like quantum biology and how it could be applied to synthetic metabolic systems. But for now, her focus remains on helping promising ventures navigate Asia’s diverse ecosystems.

With her blend of scientific training, corporate leadership, and nearly 15 years at the forefront of Asia’s agrifoodtech scene, Decitre offers SynBioBeta audiences a unique vantage point: practical, global, and deeply attuned to the region where the future of food will be tested at scale.

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Sources:

1. https://www.idcapital.com.sg/home

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