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Vriko Yu launched a startup on the back of her Ph.D. studies in biological sciences. Now she’s the CEO of Archireef, a climate tech venture that’s working to restore fragile marine ecosystems by using 3D printing technology and some good old-fashioned terracotta.
By Zinnia Lee, John Kang and Shanshan Kao
Coral reefs, the delicate breeding grounds for marine life, take years to fully form. That’s why Vriko Yu was deeply alarmed when, in 2014, she saw a coral reef community in Hong Kong die in just two months. “That was shocking,” says Yu, a 30-year-old doctoral student in biological sciences at the University of Hong Kong. “I’ve always known about climate change, but I did not know that it is happening at a pace where I can witness [the death of coral reefs] in such a short period of time.”
Working alongside David Baker, a marine biology professor, and other researchers at the University of Hong Kong, they tried a variety of different ways to restore the fragile marine ecosystem, such as planting coral fragments onto metal grids and concrete blocks. Yet, they found the baby corals would often become detached and die.
As frustrations mounted, the team finally came up with a solution: tiles made out of terracotta using 3D printers with carefully crafted designs that incorporate folds and crevices, enabling coral fragments to become attached to the seabed so that they can survive and grow. Yu says the coral seeded to their terracotta tiles have been able to achieve a survival rate of up to 98%.
With their prototypes in hand and driven by the urgent need for funding to scale up their operation, Yu and Baker decided to spin off a startup from the University of Hong Kong. The pair cofounded Archireef in 2020 as a climate solutions provider. With Yu serving as the startup’s chief executive, Archireef, which made the Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list last year, is working to rebuild the marine ecosystems degraded by climate change to achieve carbon neutrality.
“When it comes to climate tech, most people are focusing on reducing carbon emission,” says Yu in an interview from Archireef’s office in Hong Kong Science Park. “However, I would also like to emphasize that while tackling the root cause is critical and essential, it is also as important to do active restoration because nature recovery by itself is very slow and it’s not going to catch up with climate change.”
Coral reefs only cover 0.2% of the seafloor, but provide outsized benefits to the environment. About a quarter of the ocean’s fish depend on coral reefs for their food and shelter at some point in their life cycles, helping to provide a food source and livelihood for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It’s estimated that coral reefs support $2.7 trillion a year in goods and services, including $36 billion in tourism.
However, coral reefs are extremely sensitive to warming waters. Corals can lose the algae that provides them with food when sea temperatures are abnormally high—a process known as bleaching because it’s the algae that gives them their bright colors.
The survival rate for corals on Archireef’s tiles is now at 98%.
Archireef/Raymond Man
According to a report released by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network last year, the world had already lost 14% of its coral reefs between 2009 and 2018. Another report published in 2018 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global scientific authority on climate change, shows that “virtually all” (more than 99%) of the world’s coral reefs would be lost if temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius.
Archireef operates on a subscription model, where corporate clients and government agencies pay regular fees to cover the maintenance and monitoring costs of its coral restoration projects for at least three years. In return, Archireef provides them with a report detailing the ecological impact of their investment that they can use for their ESG reports and marketing materials.
It’s estimated that coral reefs support $2.7 trillion a year in goods and services, including $36 billion in tourism.
Yu says Archireef is already profitable and its clients include Hong Kong companies like jewelry chain Chow Sang Sang and real estate company Sino Group, which is run by Singapore billionaire Robert Ng.
“We are very sustainability-minded,” says Melanie Kwok, assistant general manager of sustainability at Sino Group, in an interview at the company’s The Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel Hong Kong. “We have played a role to actually protect the ocean.”
The Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel is one of the six hotel properties owned by Sino Land, the group’s property company listed in Hong Kong. Opened in July 2022, all of its 425 rooms and suites have sea views. “As you can see, all our rooms are facing the ocean,” says Kwok. “That’s why we have a role to play. We have a role to educate our customers and stakeholders of the importance of preserving the ocean so that we can all see and view this beautiful ocean together.”
Melanie Kwok, assistant general manager of sustainability at Sino Group.
Shanshan Kao/Forbes Asia
Archireef’s terracotta tiles have so far been scattered across roughly 100 square meters of Hong Kong’s waters. After laying the foundations for growth in the city, Yu now has her sights on overseas expansion—and she’s starting with Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates, which has been trying to diversify its economy before the fossil-fuel era ends.
The startup said it’s working with sovereign wealth fund ADQ to restore an area of 40 square meters of waters near the United Arab Emirates capital, which will become the nurturing ground of around 1,200 coral fragments. Last year, Archireef also established a 400 square-meter facility in Abu Dhabi, after receiving an undisclosed amount of funding from ADQ. The facility will certainly boost the company’s international expansion by allowing it to mass produce its reef tiles.
The Abu Dhabi government announced in 2021 that the United Arab Emirates aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, making the emirate the first in the region to set such a target. It was Abu Dhabi’s commitment to sustainability that convinced Yu to set up Archireef’s first overseas operations in the United Arab Emirates, which is hosting this year’s COP28 climate summit.
After identifying a site for its clients, Archireef will install the tiles and manage them for at least 3 years.
Archireef/Raymond Man
“When we were thinking about our expansion outside of Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates really came up to be one of the strongest markets, not only because of the financial performance, but also the push for sustainability,” she says.
Archireef’s ambition doesn’t limit to just restoring coral reefs. The startup is busy expanding its product line so that it can also help regrow species that create the natural habitats for other organisms. These species include mangroves and oysters, says Yu.
Meanwhile, Yu is in a hurry to expand Archireef and deploy its reef tiles around the world, including in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. She’s racing against the clock to safeguard coral reefs. “We have already lost 50% of the world’s coral reefs since 1950. And if nothing changes, we will lose up to 90% by 2050,” she says. “So if I can deliver one message here today, it’s: Please take the time to grab our last opportunity to reverse climate damage.”
