Shiok Meats, a cell-cultured food start-up in Singapore, plans to build its first manufacturing plant on the back of a new round of funding ahead of the inaugural launch of its shrimp product in 2022.
The fledgling business has secured US$12.6m in a Series A investment round from a group of investors spread across Asia, Europe and the US, building on $4.6m of seed funding last year.
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Netherlands-based investment fund Aqua-Spark, which is focused on sustainable aquaculture, led the round, with participation from 12 other investors.
Cheif executive Dr. Sandhya Sriram, who founded Shiok Meats with its chief technology officer Dr. Ka Yi Ling in 2018, said: “We are extremely excited to announce our Series A funding round which is taking us one step closer to commercialisation. The investors coming in this round, from all over the world, are all aligned towards one mission – sustainable, healthy, and delicious seafood for everyone.
“Our mission is to develop cell-based seafood and meats that are contributing towards a cleaner and healthier seafood industry and solving for the inefficiencies around global protein production.”
Joining the round on the company’s home turf were Seeds Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, a government agency which fosters the development of small businesses in the city-state, Ilshin Holdings, Makana Ventures and entrepreneur Kelvin Chan Siang Lin.
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By GlobalDataFrom South Korea, the investors include Irongrey and the Yellowdog Empowers Fund, and from Japan the Real Tech Fund and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings.
Outside of Asia, US investors Veg Invest Trust, Aiim Partners and husband and wife entrepreneurs Alex Payne and Nicole Brodeur have backed the business. From Europe, Swiss fund Beyond Impact also contributed.
Beyond the launch of frozen cell-based shrimp, Shiok Meats is planning to develop shrimp paste, a popular food ingredient in Asia, and cell-based lobster and crab products in “the coming years”.
