Alt-meat makers race for palatable prices

At Adda, a restaurant that serves contemporary Indian cuisine in Singapore, some diners come solely for Manjunath Mural’s chicken pot pie. Marinated, half-cooked in a tandoor then added to a sauce, the final result is “very juicy,” the chef says.

The chicken for this pot pie is sourced from Singapore-based Next Gen Foods, a Temasek-backed foodtech startup that raised US$100 million in series A funding in February.

Shortly before his interview with Tech in Asia, Alex Ward, the COO of Next Gen, had wrapped up a meal with butter chicken, sausage rolls with honey mustard dressing, popcorn chicken with Korean spicy sauce, and chicken waffles with fried chicken and maple syrup.

The chicken overload is easy to understand: Ward was in London for the launch of Next Gen’s chicken product, marketed as Tindle.

The words “chicken,” “meat,” and “seafood” are loosely used in this story, for the dishes they pertain to are not really chicken, meat, or seafood: In the world of alternative proteins, what you taste and see is different from what’s actually on the plate.

It has found takers. Alternative protein products from Indonesia’s Green Rebel and India’s Blue Tribe Foods are on retail shelves and select restaurants. The latter makes faux chicken from plant proteins and has recently expanded to Singapore.

Some alternative protein is also grown in labs from cells, like in the case of Shiok Meats and Umami Meats. Both startups are working on cultivated seafood in Singapore. Meanwhile, California-headquartered Eat Just, which has a production facility in Singapore, is already doling out lab-grown chicken in the city-state.

Thanks to a push from the government and a friendly regulatory landscape, Singapore is seen as a hub for alternative protein, a sector that saw record funding in 2021. Annual capital injected into Asia-Pacific startups in the sector grew by 92% to US$312 million, signaling investor interest.

Money for the industry continues to grow – VC firm Good Startup recently closed a US$34 million fund meant solely for investments in the alternative protein sector.

Price parity: dream or mirage?

Alternative proteins have morphed from a niche product to a mainstream phenomenon in the last few years, according to Boston Consulting Group. By 2035, 11% of all the meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy eaten around the globe is likely to be alternative, the company says.

Though still in its early stages of development, the alternate protein market in Asia is growing fast, says Michal Klar of Better Bite Ventures, a VC firm that exclusively backs alternative protein startups.

Winner winner chicken dinner?

What came after the chicken and egg?