Mr. Kit Yong is the co-founder of Forte Biotech, a Singapore-based agritech startup developing rapid, point-of-care molecular diagnostics for aquaculture.

Forte Biotech was founded in 2021. The concept behind RAPID was inspired by the founders’ experiences working with farmers in Vietnam, as well as insights from their own family businesses. Having witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by farmers, their families, and their livelihoods, the team remains committed to developing solutions that can make a meaningful and lasting impact.

In this episode, Kit shares how Forte Biotech was founded to address a critical but overlooked problem in shrimp farming: catastrophic losses due to undetected disease outbreaks. He explains how the company built a portable isothermal amplification platform and proprietary DNA extraction chemistry capable of handling challenging shrimp samples, enabling farmers to conduct reliable, onsite pathogen detection without complex laboratory infrastructure.

Host: Aakash Naresh Kumar

Editors: Dillon Chew, Shamieraah Jamal, Vasilina Gedzun, Hana Maldivita Tambrin

Timestamp

00:00 Meet Kit Yong

02:33 No Manual for Startups

04:09 Why Forte Bio Started

06:53 Net Zero and Farm Impact

09:35 Rapid DNA Extraction Breakthrough

11:57 Sample Degradation and False Negatives

14:44 Major Shrimp Diseases Explained

18:26 Bridging Farmers and Scientists

20:18 Portable Hardware and Isothermal Tech

21:19 Balancing Cost Accuracy

21:55 Rapid Hardware Overview

22:52 On Farm Reliability Lessons

24:53 Scaling Across Southeast Asia Markets

25:46 Regulation And Local Partners

31:09 Building An Agile Team

33:40 Diagnostics And Food Security

35:57 Milestones Profitability Goals

36:47 Science Communication For Impact