Hong Kong-based startup Avant Meats, whose slogan is “Gratify without sacrifice”, produces sustainable fish and seafood products, using cell technology. This week Avant closed a seed round of funding with US$3.1 million to support its R&D efforts and is expected to launch its cultured fish meat products to market as soon as 2021.
Founded in Hong Kong in 2018, Avant Meats is the first meat cultivation biotechnology startup in China and the only company in Asia to develop cultivated meat for use in food, skincare and skincare products using patent-pending technology to produce zero-residue protein directly from fish cells through an efficient, scalable, safe and reliable biological process. and other applications.
The funding round attracted participation from leading local and international investors, including Greater China-based China Ventures, AngelHub and ParticleX, as well as Western alternative protein investors such as Lever VC, CPT Capital, Loyal VC, 208 Seed Ventures and Artesian. food investor PTG Food, and Markus Haefeli, chairman of Regal Springs, the world’s largest “responsible” fish producer, also participated in the round.
Speaking to vegconomist in 2019, founder Carrie Chan said, “Traditional seafood industry faces increasing challenges. New questions and doubts from consumers on seafood safety arise as our oceans become more polluted by an increasing variety of pollutants. For open sea fishing, return on investment to improve fishing equipment and productivity is diminishing due to dwindling natural fish stocks. Aquacultural practices have multiple problems as concentrated animal operations.
“Veganism is against the exploitation of and cruelty to animals for food. Using animals as a protein delivery method is hugely inefficient. It is now becoming obvious that it is a system issue. Therefore, systemic change is a necessity and not a preference.”
Co-founder and CEO, Jiyi Chen said this week: “Avant is delighted to be working with so many important investors who can help us in every aspect of our business, including production technology, customer relationships, and ongoing support. We will do our utmost to continue our efforts in the sustainable seafood and alternative protein industry and to introduce our products into the existing global supply chain as soon as possible.”
