Korean food delivery major Woowa Brothers joins Shiok Meats bridge round

Sustainability is the new holy grail for startups in Southeast Asia. It has even been the subject of TED talks: Allan Savory, a farmer from Zimbabwe, claimed in a 2013 lecture that following the principles of regenerative agriculture could “reverse” climate change.

Shiok Meats team / Photo credit: Shiok Meats

Kiss the Ground, a 2020 Netflix documentary narrated by Woody Harrelson, ruminates over a dire projection from the United Nations that suggests we may have only 60 harvests left before the world runs out of topsoil, unless we repair the damage we have wrought on the vital natural resource.

Much has been said about environmental protection and technology that can help conserve our resources, but a question mark still hangs over its affordability for everyday use. For instance, the first beef burger made from cells grown outside a cow reportedly cost an eye-popping US$320,000 and was generally considered flavorless.

However, Singapore’s Shiok Meats is looking to turn things around. Southeast Asia’s first cell-based meat company aims to put crustacean products like shrimp, lobster, crab, prawn, and crayfish on the plate for at least US$50 per kilogram by 2022. It also expects that prices will drop to as low as US$5 per kilogram in the coming years.

Shiok Meats uses stem cells from shrimp before multiplying them in a “culture media,” a solution filled with nutrients. It’s an expensive product used to make things like vaccines and is primarily sold by pharmaceutical and chemical companies. It’s also a key reason why Shiok Meats’ prawn meat currently costs US$1,500 per kilogram.

Hearty investor appetite

In Asia, meat alternatives have been gaining investor interest, particularly among angels and smaller venture capital firms. In contrast, larger VCs have been typically “very risk-averse,” Shiok Meats CEO and co-founder Sandhya Sriram told Tech in Asia last year.

However, the tide seems to be changing as big companies are shown larger appetites when it comes to investing in meat alternatives.

Shiok Meats announced today that it has almost completed raising an undisclosed bridge financing round from Woowa Brothers, a Seoul-based food delivery firm owned by Delivery Hero, as well as Asia Holdings, South Korea’s CJ CheilJedang Corporation, and Vietnam-based seafood exporter Vinh Hoan Corporation.

Investors like Beyond Impact Vegan Partners, Boom Capital Fund, Big Idea Ventures, Twynam Investments, IronGrey, Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, and Henry Soesanto also took part in the fundraise.

With the latest round, Shiok Meats has raised a total of about US$30 million in funding to date.

Photo credit: Shiok Meats

The foodtech firm will use the funds to cut down on the cost of its product further through research and development. Part of the fresh capital will also go into building a production unit in Singapore by 2023 as well.

Simmering competition