Following its $10 million seed round this February which the company claimed at the time was the largest ever seed round in the plant-based sector, Singapore based startup Next Gen today announces an extension of $20 million to make a total of $30 million, which will be invested to launch TiNDLE, its new plant-based chicken brand, into the US.
“Following our March 2021 TiNDLE launch, we have expanded to three key markets, and we expect to be in more than five by end-2021″
Founded by Timo Recker of LikeMeat, and Andre Menezes, Next Gen’s chicken product with the interesting name TiNDLE is currently sold in over 70 restaurants in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau, including ADDA by four-time Michelin Star Chef Manjunath Mural and two Michelin Star Bo Innovation by Chef Alvin Leung in Hong Kong.
The company use the fresh funds to hire more than 50 employees across research and development, sales, supply chain, finance and marketing. Employees will primarily be based in the Bay Area. The company will also use the extended funding for continued international expansion in APAC and the Middle East, developing its technology, establishing a research and development center in Singapore and product diversification.
New investors in this latest round include Global Fund GGV Capital, making its first investment in plant-based chicken; China-based agriculture and food tech venture fund Bits x Bites, investing actively in the alternative protein space; Yeo Hiap Seng; and Chris Yeh, co-author of Blitzscaling. Existing investors include Temasek, and Asia-based venture capital fund K3 Ventures.
“The United States is the world’s biggest market for plant-based foods. We are already putting our foundations in place to be in-market within the next 12 months as we accelerate our goal of becoming the world’s number one plant-based chicken,” said Co-Founder and CEO Andre Menezes. “The outstanding response from both existing and new investors shows their confidence in our innovative technology, highly scalable business model, differentiated taste experiences and the ability of our team to make TiNDLE a market leader in the US.”
“Following our March 2021 TiNDLE launch, we have expanded to three key markets, and we expect to be in more than five by end-2021, a mark that some leading brands do not cross after years of existence. We are scaling at this incredibly fast pace with our asset-lite business model, distribution network, talent, and collaborations with great chefs and hot restaurants,” added Jean Madden, Next Gen CMO.
