Name: 從咖啡豆到牛奶，這家新加坡初創公司利用「AI」審核配料！(From coffee beans to milk, meet the Singapore-based startup using AI to vet ingredients)
Uploaded: 2024-11-13T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 8 min 57 s

The world has more mouths to feed than ever before, and food production has scaled up to meet that demand.

世界上需要養活的人比以往任何時候都多，糧食生產也在不斷擴大，以滿足這一需求。

情態副詞

But churning out more food also carries an environmental impact and potentially compromises its quality.

但是，生產更多的食物也會對環境造成影響，並有可能影響食物的品質。

Singaporean start-up ProfilePrint has developed technology which it hopes will address this challenge, while also saving time and money for agri-businesses.

新加坡初創公司 ProfilePrint 開發了一項技術，希望能解決這一難題，同時為農業企業節省時間和金錢。

If you look at the world ingredient trade today, you typically have the producer which are the farmers, you have the group of traders who buy to sell, and then you have the end-buyer who buy to manufacture.

縱觀當今世界的食材貿易，生產者通常是農民，貿易商從購買到銷售，最終購買者從購買到生產。

The current process is whenever you have a buyer and a seller, the buyer will require physical samples before they were placed in orders.

目前的流程是，只要有買方和賣方，買方就會要求在下訂單前提供實物樣品。

And you can typically imagine a 2-3 rounds process between every buyer and seller, but you can then extend it to every part of the supply chain will have buyers and sellers and buyers and sellers.

你通常可以想象每個買方和賣方之間的 2-3 輪流程，但你也可以將其擴展到供應鏈的每個環節，都會有買方和賣方以及買方和賣方。

So the amount of sampling work that is required is significant.

是以，需要進行大量的取樣工作。

ProfilePrint digitalises food ingredients so that buyers and sellers no longer need to ship samples physically, allowing us to have a significant reduction in logistic costs, overheads, as well as carbon footprint.

ProfilePrint 將食品配料數字化，使買家和賣家不再需要運輸樣品，從而大大降低了物流成本、管理費用和碳排放量。

Back in 2018, ProfilePrint caught the attention of a number of investors, including Dr Yukihiro Maru, the founder and CEO of Leave & Nest Capital.

早在2018年，ProfilePrint就引起了一些投資者的注意，其中包括留巢資本（Leave & Nest Capital）的創始人兼首席執行官丸幸弘博士。

CNBC caught up with him at the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology conference, also known as Switch.

CNBC 在新加坡創新科技週會議（又稱 Switch）上採訪了他。

He says ProfilePrint is well-placed to help agri-businesses on a global scale.

他說，ProfilePrint 有能力在全球範圍內幫助農業企業。

The big issue in the Southeast Asia is food delivery or food security.

東南亞最大的問題是糧食供應或糧食安全。

So I think this is a very good timing to more expand this technology to the world.

是以，我認為這是一個非常好的時機，可以向全世界推廣這項技術。

And that was when I was still travelling quite a bit, going to Africa, going to China.

那時我還經常旅行，去非洲，去中國。

I significantly remember this trip when I went to Uganda.

我清楚地記得這次去烏干達的旅行。

And then I saw that there were farmers who were trying to sell food ingredients at bulk prices.

然後，我看到有農民試圖以散裝價格出售食品原料。

They didn't have the expertise to make an assessment of how good their products are.

他們沒有專業知識來評估自己的產品有多好。

And hence, typically, they sell only at one price, even if their quality is good.

是以，即使它們的品質很好，通常也只賣一個價格。

If there's a faster way to democratise expertise so that even down at the producer level, they're able to make better decisions.

如果有一種更快的方法能使專業知識民主化，這樣即使是生產者也能做出更好的決定。

As a Singapore company, over 90% of our revenue comes out of Singapore.

作為一家新加坡公司，我們 90% 以上的收入來自新加坡。

So today, we are deployed in over 60 locations across all six continents of the world.

如今，我們已在全球六大洲的 60 多個地點部署了設備。

And I think that itself really is a function of because of our tool being digitally available, that clients can subscribe to our solution anytime, anywhere in the world.

我認為，這是因為我們的工具是數字化的，客戶可以隨時隨地使用我們的解決方案。

In 2024, ProfilePrint signed agreements with Brazil's two largest coffee manufacturers, as well as Instituto CNA, a government-backed institution representing Brazil's agricultural sectors.

2024 年，ProfilePrint 與巴西最大的兩家咖啡製造商以及代表巴西農業部門的政府支持機構 Instituto CNA 簽訂了協議。

Brazil remains a global powerhouse in the production of key commodities like coffee and soybeans, and the country is modernising operations to address issues in quality control and sustainability.

巴西仍然是咖啡和大豆等主要商品的全球生產大國，該國正在進行現代化營運，以解決品質控制和可持續性方面的問題。

We serve large companies because we care about them for the volume and also because they are instrumental in the supply chain.

我們為大公司提供服務，因為我們關心它們的數量，也因為它們在供應鏈中發揮著重要作用。

And so the first part is that all data that is provided by our client belongs to them.

是以，第一部分是客戶提供的所有數據都屬於他們。

Even the models built on our platform also belong to them.

甚至在我們的平臺上建立的模型也屬於他們。

You really have hardware that acquire the fingerprints.

The software is the one that does the work.

Over here, we have the analysers and the platform of ProfilePrint.

在這裡，我們有分析儀和 ProfilePrint 平臺。

And this is our recently launched fifth-generation Oca.

這就是我們最近推出的第五代奧卡。

Here, this is a bag of green coffee beans.

Typically, for our clients to not have ProfilePrint, they would need to actually roast this green coffee bean, grind it to a certain size, brew the coffee, let it cool down, and get a team of people to taste it before they can make a decision of buying or selling.

通常情況下，如果我們的客戶沒有 ProfilePrint，他們就需要實際烘焙這種綠色咖啡豆，將其研磨到一定大小，沖泡咖啡，讓其冷卻，並讓一組人品嚐，然後才能做出購買或出售的決定。

What we do now is we collect some of this green coffee bean, we open up the analyser, we place it inside, and we are now able to run the model.

我們現在要做的就是收集一些綠咖啡豆，打開分析儀，把它放在裡面，然後就可以運行模型了。

Companies can create their own AI models on ProfilePrint's platform, which are able to assess whether the raw ingredient is a good fit for what they are looking for.

公司可以在ProfilePrint的平臺上創建自己的人工智能模型，該模型能夠評估原材料是否符合公司的要求。

Traders can also build AI models for specific clients to determine whether the product fits their preferences on look or flavour.

交易商還可以為特定客戶建立人工智能模型，以確定產品是否符合他們對外觀或口味的偏好。

The ProfilePrint technology is quite unique.

The core part is, of course, detect some waves in the material, but we combine with the AI part.

當然，核心部分是檢測材料中的一些波，但我們將其與人工智能部分相結合。

That is perfectly next-generation technology, I think.

我認為，這完全是下一代技術。

The company's patented software has also developed over the last 12 months and has led to advancements in non-visual defect detection, one of the most challenging issues in the coffee industry.

公司的專利軟件也在過去 12 個月中得到了發展，並在咖啡行業最具挑戰性的非視覺缺陷檢測方面取得了進步。

Maybe there's one or even two beans that has accidentally fermented wrongly or may have an insect inside the bean that causes the entire bag to taste terrible.

也許有一顆甚至兩顆豆子不小心發酵錯了，或者豆子裡有蟲子，導致整袋豆子的味道都很糟糕。

But if you cannot pick up that one or two, you effectively will not be able to sell this lot meaningfully.

但是，如果你拿不出那一兩件，你實際上就無法有意義地出售這批貨物。

So the molecules are captured, converted into a digital fingerprint that contains this information.

是以，分子被捕獲，轉換成包含這些資訊的數字指紋。

What's happening is that the fingerprint is now being analysed by the AI model on the platform and within seconds, it generates the result based on industry standard as well as other important decision-making parameters all within a few seconds.

現在的情況是，指紋由平臺上的人工智能模型進行分析，並在幾秒鐘內根據行業標準和其他重要的決策參數生成結果。

As well as predicting the quality and flavour profiles, the company's ingredient quality platform is able to offer their clients various options when it comes to balancing quality with price.

該公司的配料品質平臺不僅能預測品質和風味，還能為客戶提供各種選擇，在品質和價格之間取得平衡。

What we're doing now, we're letting the AI run its prediction on how to blend to achieve the best price at the best closeness to the target quality.

我們現在要做的，就是讓人工智能預測如何混合，以達到最接近目標品質的最佳價格。

And you see within seconds, this has been generated.

你會看到，幾秒鐘之內，這個就生成了。

We can now see the results that we recommend blend one using this composition at $5.93.

現在，我們可以看到我們推薦的使用這種成分的混合一號的效果，價格為 5.93 美元。

But if you are less sensitive to the quality match, you can go for 85% and only at $5.56.

但是，如果您對品質匹配不那麼敏感，您可以選擇 85%，價格僅為 5.56 美元。

The end goal is to streamline the whole supply chain and ultimately cut out human error.

最終目標是簡化整個供應鏈，並最終消除人為錯誤。

They are still required to make the decision of buying or selling, but they now have a tool to help them make better decision.

他們仍然需要做出購買或出售的決定，但他們現在有了一種工具，可以幫助他們做出更好的決定。

Probably cannot replace a human, but in fact make the human more productive.

它們可能無法取代人類，但事實上卻能提高人類的生產力。

But of course for humans who are not adding value and not able to make higher level decision, then largely part of their job will then be replaced.

當然，對於那些不能創造價值、不能做出更高層次決策的人來說，他們的大部分工作將被取代。

Profile Prince Rise has not been without its challenges.

In the early stages of the COVID pandemic, a number of big investors withdrew their financial commitment to the company and its future looked uncertain.

在 COVID 大流行的早期階段，一些大投資者撤回了對該公司的財務承諾，該公司的未來看起來並不明朗。

Now people can't fly in to Singapore to attend trade shows.

現在，人們不能飛到新加坡參加貿易展了。

If we are able to use our technology to repurpose for that, we may be able to then at least keep our income coming.

如果我們能夠利用我們的技術來重新利用這一點，那麼我們也許至少能夠保持我們的收入。

And we found a partner, which is one of the trade show companies, who said, give it a shot, but I'm not willing to pay for it.

我們找到了一個合作伙伴，也就是一家貿易展覽公司，他說，試一試吧，但我不願意為此付錢。

But if we are successful, let's share profit 50-50.

但如果我們成功了，利潤就五五分成。

I would say that if we did not have COVID, to prove this value would have been a lot harder.

我想說的是，如果我們沒有 COVID，要證明這一價值會困難得多。

And hence I think it's a function of pure fortune and luck.

是以，我認為這完全是幸運和運氣的作用。

Today we have a group of investors who are able to give us a better, updated context of what the industry needs.

今天，我們有了一批投資者，他們能夠為我們提供更好的、最新的行業需求背景。

His passion to solve the issue in Southeast Asia, his presentation is quite nice because sometimes startup entrepreneurs cannot communicate with each other, but he can communicate a lot.

他對解決東南亞問題充滿熱情，他的演講非常精彩，因為有時創業企業家之間無法溝通，但他可以溝通很多。

So they can bring the money, they can bring some network from all over the world.

是以，他們可以帶來資金，可以從世界各地帶來一些網絡。

So I think they can adjust to each market, not only coffee and tea, but also other food security markets.

是以，我認為他們可以適應每個市場，不僅是咖啡和茶，還有其他食品安全市場。

Tea leaves to cocoa to chocolate, down to grains, spices, alcohol, milk, as well as even corn and soybeans.

從茶葉到可可、巧克力，再到穀物、香料、酒精、牛奶，甚至玉米和大豆。

We are looking to expand, but we are looking to expand meaningfully and cautiously.

我們正在尋求擴張，但我們尋求的是有意義的、謹慎的擴張。

 We want to continue to deepen our knowledge in the current verticals that we serve, but at the same time, always look at what we deem as the adjacent problem that we can also use this solution to serve and expand our market size.

我們希望繼續加深對現有垂直行業的瞭解，但與此同時，我們也始終關注我們認為可以利用這一解決方案解決的相鄰問題，並擴大我們的市場規模。