Singapore-based venture capital Good Startup has generated $25 million for its Good Protein Fund I, which will be used to invest in other alternative protein-based companies.
Singapore Venture Capital Good Startup Raises $25 million for Protein Fund
Good Startup was able to secure funds from Symphony Asia Holdings chairman Anil Thadani, Kim Seng Holdings chairman Tan Kim Seng, and a group of senior partners who are acting as angel investors from an undisclosed consulting firm. The venture capital already has a portfolio of investing in alternative protein-based companies such as San-Francisco-based faux egg and cell-meat maker Eat Just, alternative dairy maker TurtleTree Labs, cell-based seafood producer Avant Meats, plant-based chicken maker Rebellyous Foods, and many more.
The capital raised will be dispersed to fund a total of 32 companies. In addition, Good Startup will work closely with these companies in a range of areas including IP protection, organization design, scaling-up, hiring, and fundraising strategies. The firm further elaborated that 80% of the fund will be utilized in early-stage startups and the remaining 20% in late-stage firms and secondaries.
The investment period of the fund will last for four years, with more than half of it being allocated in Asia. This foresight emphasizes the global shift to alternative protein as a viable solution to climate change concerns, and as an emerging market. In 2019, a Barclays report predicted that the global alternative protein market, currently valued at $1.4 billion, could increase tenfold to $140 billion by 2029.
The competition for alternative meat is only just heating up. Companies based in Asia-Pacific received $205.61 million in investments last year, over six times the $33.8 million they raised in 2019 and nearly 21 times the amount they were given in 2018, which was $9.86 million.
Other important progress made in this sector includes Eat Just which raised $170 million this May, and Oatly which has successfully been listed on the Nasdaq that same month.