Market & Trends

Has Singapore Firmly Established Itself as the World Epicentre of Alt Protein?

Last March we published an article discussing Singapore as an emerging food tech capital, with its government investing US$72 billion in climate crisis preparation and creating methods to be to be self-sufficient and battle food insecurity.

In the year that has followed, not least this past week, there have been so many further developments that it cannot be ignored that the city-state has effectively established itself at the very forefront of global alt protein. Here is our roundup of recent and most impressive Singaporean news in the past 12 month.

This week alone has seen the following three significant Singapore advancements in foodtech / alt protein as follows:

Avant

Chinese cell-cultured company Avant, the first cell-cultured meat company in China and the first cell-cultured fish company in Asia, announced the new R&D and pilot manufacturing facilities plan in Singapore, in collaboration with the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board. The new facilities will be supplemented by existing operations in Greater China, with Avant promising to recruit local talent as part of its expansion.

 Avant Meats Singapore
© Avant Meats Company Limited

Carrie Chan, Co-founder and CEO of Avant, said this week, “Avant has grown its presence in strategic locations in Asia to optimize its market access, technology ecosystem, and funding opportunities. Singapore provides Avant with regulatory clarity, international talents, and sufficient space for the next step of scaling up.”

ADM

ADM – one of the world’s leading agricultural origination and processing companies – has opened its new plant-based innovation lab. With the aim of developing next-level, on-trend and nutritious products to meet growing food and beverage demand in the Asia-Pacific region, the lab gives ADM the ability to test flavors, textures, fats and binding characteristics in-house and accelerate product development for customers, tailor-made for the Asian consumer palate.

ADM Singapore
Image: ADM / Business Wire

Givaudan and Bühler

Givaudan and Bühler this week opened the new APAC Protein Innovation Centre in Singapore. The new facility, which can produce up to 40 kilograms of vegetable proteins per hour, covers the entire plant protein production process. It is equipped with a pilot-scale wet and dry extruder, a state-of-the-art kitchen for product development, storage facilities, meeting rooms and a viewing area where visitors can tour the 400 square metre facility and watch live demonstrations.

Bühler Innovation Centre
© Bühler AG

Also in the past 12 months

  • Growthwell Group, a leading manufacturer of plant-based alternatives for meat and seafood for the South East Asian market, raised US$8 million
  • Singapore became the only city outside of the US to offer Impossible Meat for retail sale.
  • abillion raised $3 million and announced a partnership with Impossible Foods to launch Impossible products into thousands of restaurants across Singapore.
  • NextGen was established in October, then in February closed the largest everseed round in the plant-based sector at $10 million, and announced the launch of TiNDLE, its new plant-based chicken brand.
  • Eat Just built a $12o million factory for expansion of JUST Egg and development of cultured chicken.
Future Food Studio Singapore Eat JUST
Future Food Studio Singapore ©Eat JUST
  • In July, Shiok Meats, the world’s first cell-based crustacean meat company, entered into a collaboration with IntegriCulture Incupscale Shiok Meat’s cell-based shrimp utilising IntegriCulture’s inexpensive cell culture technology which will effectively make the shrimp more affordable and removes the necessity of the use of serum.
  • In September, Shiok raised $12.6M in Series A funding, bringing it one step closer to commercialization.
  • Eat Just then received regulatory approval for its cultuvated chicken, GOOD Chicken, making Singapore the first country in the world to then sell cultured meat soon after. This month, the product has become available for customers for home delivery.
  • SingCell,the first contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) dedicated to cell-cultured meat, entered into a technology development agreement with the National University of Singapore to evaluate and license the plant-based edible microcarriers technology developed by the university, with the aim of solving the cost and scalability issues in cultured meat.
Lobster terrine, Shiok Meats
Lobster terrine ©Shiok Meats

As Leo Liu, ADM president, Asia-Pacific noted: “Singapore is a critical hub of innovation and growth around plant-based alternatives,” and with progressive regulations and government investment it will continue to be at the forefront of the alt-protein revolution.

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