Chinese biotech firm Avant has raised $10.8 million in its Series A funding round. The company intends to use the funding to commercialise cultivated seafood.
The round was led by S2G Ventures, with other investors including Lever VC, CPT Capital, and Good Startup. It follows a seed round in late 2020, where Avant secured $3.1 million. At the time, the company was hoping to bring its products to market the following year, but this date has now been amended to 2023.
‘We look forward to scaling up production for commercialisation”
Avant has already made considerable progress towards commercialisation by developing an animal-free cell culture medium. This has reduced the cost of its cultivated fish by over 90%, addressing a key challenge faced by the industry.
Technology Pioneer
Last year, Avant was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum for its contributions in the field of Global Public Goods. A few months later, the company announced it would be opening a new production facility in Singapore, marking another step towards commercialisation. Additionally, Avant launched Zellulin® — a collagen product which is the world’s first cell-based functional protein — in 2021.
“We are very grateful for the huge support of new investors and the ongoing commitment from existing investors,’ said Carrie Chan, CEO and co-founder at Avant. “We look forward to scaling up production for commercialization and sending our products to customers by late 2023.”
