BIKI Shines Bright: Grand Winner of TECH PLAN DEMO DAY Asia Final 2025

The TECH PLANTER Asia Final 2025 concluded with great success on 23 August 2025, uniting some of the brightest minds in technology and innovation from across Southeast Asia and Japan. Hosted at Aerodyne Campus, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia, the event served as a vibrant platform for startups and researchers to present groundbreaking solutions to real-world challenges, while engaging with industry leaders, investors, and ecosystem builders.

This year’s final featured 14 exceptional teams, including top winners from the TECH PLANTER programs in Southeast Asia and—for the first time—Japan, highlighting the growing cross-border collaboration within the TECH PLANTER ecosystem.

The lineup of finalists included: CirPro Innovations Corp., TeraForm Inc., Lestagro, Forte Biotech, Seamorny Holdings Pte. Ltd., Enable Earth Co., Ltd., PT. Kurva, Lonceng Khatulistiwa, GreenPump, BIKI, InnoPhytoTech Co. Ltd., NAROMA, Pepshield, SPHinX Inc., and NanoSkunkWorkX Sdn. Bhd. These teams impressed the audience with innovative ideas and original designs, demonstrating significant potential to drive impact in fields such as AI, biotechnology, clean energy, and sustainable development.

Finalist presentations were evaluated by a distinguished panel of judges, comprising representatives from: Leave a Nest Co., Ltd., Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation Berhad (SDEC), Aerodyne Group, Euglena Co., Ltd., Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT), Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, KOBASHI HOLDINGS Co., Ltd., Mizuho Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, TERAL Inc., and UntroD Inc. The judges provided insightful feedback and recognized outstanding teams with special awards, contributing to the growth of these early-stage ventures.

The event also featured partner presentations from SDEC, JT, Mizuho Bank, and UntroD Capital Asia, offering attendees valuable perspectives on innovation strategy, venture investment, and corporate-startup collaboration.

Among the finalists, BIKI emerged as the Grand Winner, of its holistic and scalable approach to addressing food security through an ecosystem-based model. Based in Yogyakarta, BIKI has developed Chitasil Edible Coating—an innovative solution made from shrimp shell waste that extends the shelf life of produce and significantly reduces post-harvest losses. Through its BIKI Point ecosystem, the team empowers smallholder farmers by offering traceability tools and improved market access, all while promoting sustainability and food security.

In recognition of their impactful approach, BIKI not only secured the Grand Prize at TECH PLANTER Asia Final 2025, but also received the UntroD-KOBASHI Award—a special honor that celebrates the startup's strong business potential, collaborative mindset, and alignment with local and global needs.

SUMMARY OF TECH PLAN DEMO DAY ASIA FINAL 2025 AWARDEES

GRAND WINNER AWARD

• Winner: BIKI

• Technology Theme: End-to-end prevention solution for fruit and vegetable loss and waste.

• Award Inclusions: 10,000 MYR Monetary Prize and an Invitation to Present at the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Tokyo 2026.

• Reason for Winning: BIKI impressed the judges with its holistic approach to building a circular ecosystem, effectively integrating multiple stakeholders—from farmers to logistic players—into one solution. While many use chitosan for edible coatings, BIKI’s strength lies in applying this technology through an inclusive, scalable system that addresses cost and adoption barriers in the agricultural sector. The judges saw strong potential for regional and global application, with unanimous support for BIKI’s long-term vision.

LEAVE A NEST AWARD

• Winner: Enable Earth Co., Ltd.

• Technology Theme: Valorizing agricultural wastes using AI logistics and industrial continuous pyrolysis.

• Award Inclusions: An Invitation to Present at the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Tokyo 2026. 
• Reason for Winning: Open burning remains a serious environmental issue in Southeast Asia. Enable Earth stood out with a unique solution that combines logistics and traceability, providing not just environmental impact but a framework for other startups to replicate and scale. Leave a Nest sees strong potential in supporting the team through collaboration and introducing new partners to help scale its impact.

UNTROD – KOBASHI AWARD

• Winner: BIKI
• Technology Theme: End-to-end prevention solution for fruit and vegetable loss and waste.
• Award Inclusions: 4,000 MYR Monetary Prize
• Reason for Winning: KOBASHI has recently launched KOBASHI ROBOTICS, a new hub to support Southeast Asia startups. Both KOBASHI and UntroD expressed a strong desire to partner with BIKI, recognizing its business model as uniquely positioned at the intersection of usability, food security, and logistics traceability. As investors, UntroD sees BIKI as an attractive venture for future investment.

SDEC AWARD

• Winner: Lestagro

• Technology Theme: Reversing global warming impact & commercialization of berry plants via temporary immersion bioreactor.

• Award Inclusions: 4,000 MYR Monetary Prize
• Reason for Winning: Food security remains a key priority for Sarawak, but challenges persist at the upstream level, where younger farmers often abandon farming after experiencing poor yields. This issue continues despite the adoption of smart farming tools, indicating that technology alone is insufficient. With Lestagro’s agriculture solution, SDEC sees an opportunity to introduce scalable tech and collaborate with biotech stakeholders, aiming to foster a more holistic, sustainable approach to modern agriculture in the state.

AERODYNE AWARD AWARD

• Winner: NanoSkunkWorkX Sdn. Bhd.

• Technology Theme: SUSANNE: A graphene nanofabrication platform enabling ultra-efficient AI compute, low-cost green hydrogen, and rapid biosensing.

• Award Inclusions: 4,000 MYR Monetary Prize
• Reason for Winning: Aerodyne recognized the future potential of graphene, especially in semiconductor applications. The awarded team’s work could have a wide-reaching impact, and Aerodyne looks forward to supporting its journey.

JT AWARD

• Winner: InnoPhytoTech Co. Ltd.

• Technology Theme: Revolutionary enzyme technology to convert fruit sugar into prebiotics.

• Award Inclusions: 4,000 MYR Monetary Prize
• Reason for Winning: The team’s approach to sugar transformation reflects a philosophy of enriching rather than reducing—turning something ordinary into a new functional variant. JT appreciated the transformational mindset, seeing the technology not just as a product but as a hopeful vision of change they wish to support.

KIRIN AWARD

• Winner: SPHinX Inc.

• Technology Theme: Development of affordable and accessible infectious disease diagnostic kits for developing countries.

• Award Inclusions: 4,000 MYR Monetary Prize
• Reason for Winning: Kirin was impressed by the disruptive potential of this PCR alternative—offering accurate and affordable diagnosis, especially for mass disease detection. The solution aligns closely with Kirin’s focus on immunity, and presents opportunities for future collaborations in public health, especially in Southeast Asia.

KOBASHI AWARD

• Winner: Seamorny Holdings Pte. Ltd.

• Technology Theme: Sustainable AI-powered seafood farming.

• Award Inclusions: 4,000 MYR Monetary Prize
• Reason for Winning: KOBASHI, a century-old agricultural machinery manufacturer, values innovation that uplifts farmers and fishermen. Seamorny's solution aligns with their mission, and the company expressed interest in collaboration to scale the impact and solve the deep issue together. 

MIZUHO AWARD

• Winner: TeraForm Inc.

• Technology Theme: Sustainable agriculture through nature-derived nano-hydrogel technology.

• Award Inclusions: 4,000 MYR Monetary Prize
• Reason for Winning: TeraForm tackles a critical social issue through an innovative water absorption solution. Mizuho Bank was particularly moved by the team’s passion and unique focus, and sees potential in supporting their growth journey.

TERAL AWARD

• Winner: Enable Earth Co., Ltd.

• Technology Theme: Valorizing agricultural wastes using AI logistics and industrial continuous pyrolysis.

• Award Inclusions: 4,000 MYR Monetary Prize
• Reason for Winning: Addressing the issue of agricultural burning, the awarded team highlighted a challenge that is both urgent and shared. TERAL recognizes the need for collective solutions and expressed strong support for this initiative.

UNTROD AWARD

• Winner: PT Kurva Lonceng Khatulistiwa

• Technology Theme: Coffee leather; turning coffee skin waste into sustainable leather alternatives, replacing plastic-based synthetic leather.
  

• Award Inclusions: 4,000 MYR Monetary Prize
• Reason for Winning: UntroD was impressed with the technological depth and market potential of Bells' product. With its alignment to sustainable innovation, UntroD sees an opportunity to connect the team with global brands such as Patagonia, opening doors to international partnership.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS AND PRESENTERS!

A Heartfelt Thank You from Leave a Nest – TECH PLANTER Asia Final 2025

The Leave a Nest team extends our deepest gratitude to all participants, supporters, and collaborators who made the TECH PLANTER Asia Final 2025 a truly memorable event.

To our 14 incredible finalist teams, thank you for your inspiring presentations and dedication to solving real-world challenges through science and technology. We also extend our sincere appreciation to our esteemed panel of judges for their time, insights, and invaluable guidance—your thoughtful feedback played a crucial role in helping the teams refine their innovations and elevate their impact.

We would also like to express our heartfelt appreciation to our local and international partners for their ongoing support and collaboration: Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation Berhad (SDEC), Aerodyne Group, Japan Tobacco Inc., Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, KOBASHI HOLDINGS Co., Ltd., Mizuho Bank, Teral Inc., UntroD Inc., and UntroD Capital Asia Pte. Ltd.

This year’s event may have concluded, but the journey continues. We are proud to announce BIKI and Enable Earth Co., Ltd. have been selected to present at the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Tokyo 2026, which will take place in March 2026.

Stay tuned for more updates from Leave a Nest, and should you have any questions or require additional information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] or contact Ms. Mahirah Basri directly at [email protected].

Once again, congratulations to all teams, and we look forward to welcoming you back for TECH PLANTER Asia Final 2026!