This list is far from comprehensive; there are a lot of new protein startups. The new protein market is predicted to be worth $140 billion in the next decade. I included players in plant-based meat, cultivated meat, and “air protein” (this term is semi-pending) from all over the world so that you can have a broad comprehension of how different entrepreneurs are addressing the challenge of sustainable protein.
Aleph Farms: This Israeli-based startup, aiming to provide the experience of meat without its environmental and health concerns, is the first company to develop a cell-based steak. This distinguishes Aleph Farms from competitors that are mostly focused on ground meats, a texture less challenging to produce than steak. Aleph Farms has gained attention from large corporations like Cargill, one of its investors.
Avant Meats: Avant Meats is developing cell-based fish maw — a popular, high-end product in China and Hong Kong, where fish consumption is double the global average. Demand for fish maw has severely endangered fish species that are used to produce it. Avant Meats CEO and Founder Carrie Chan believes more and more consumers in the region desire transparent and sustainable fish choices, so the company also aims to produce traceable products.
Clara Foods: Concerned with the environmental and ethical implications of egg production, the Clara Foods team uses a fermentation process to create high-protein products, namely the first animal-free egg protein. The company also plans to use their protein technology to create baking products, food and beverage ingredients, and nutritional supplements.
Ecovative Design: This New York-based company uses materials made from mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms, to produce alternative packaging and support plant-based and cell-based meat production. Atlast, Ecovative’s technology for plant-based meat, provides an edible scaffolding for the flavors that make plant-based meat taste like meat from animals. Because it can be grown into any shape, Atlast can grow whole cuts of meat, such as steaks, whereas plant-based products today are mostly in the ground form.
Fazenda Futuro: Since 1990, Brazilian meat consumption has nearly doubled. Brazilian startup Fazenda Futuro aims to address the lack of plant-based meat options in Latin American with its Futuro Burger, priced similarly to premium beef burgers and launched in restaurants in April 2019.
Finless Foods: This cultivated meat company produced the first cell-based fish product with their bluefin tuna. The company aims to reduce reliance on tuna fishing, a practice that has endangered Bluefin tuna worldwide. Finless Foods plans to develop fish and seafood products that are affordable, sustainable, and widely accessible, hoping to soon develop a fish filet product.
Good Catch: Seeking to fill the gap in plant-based seafood options, Good Catch is recreating several popular seafood products using a blend of legumes.Products include tuna, crab cakes, and fish burgers. Good Catch is available through Thrive Market, FreshDirect, and Whole Foods.
GoodDot: In India, meat consumption is projected to increase by the largest percentage globally over the next 50 years. With cost-competitive, shelf-stable, plant-based meats, GoodDot products cater to Indian consumers with, for example, plant-based mutton, the second most-popular meat in India and also one of the most environmentally taxing. GoodDot has a sister company, GoodDO, a vegan fast-food chain showcasing the potential of plant-based meats in popular western and Indian dishes.
Integriculture: Integriculture, the first cultivated meat start-up in Japan, was born out of the Shojinmeat Project, a citizen-science initiative that engages the public with cultivated meat (and even encouraging people to grow their own meat!). Integriculture is developing several cell-ag products for consumers and the industry such as foie gras, a bioreactor system, growth factors, and cosmetics.
Memphis Meats: As the first company to produce cultivated chicken, and duck, Memphis Meats has investment from two of the largest meat companies in the world, Tyson Foods and Cargill. Memphis is also producing cultivated beef.
Motif FoodWorks. Born out of biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks, Motif uses biotechnology and fermentation to produce ingredients for the plant-based and health food industry. Instead of every plant-based meat and dairy company having its own research and development team, Motif plans to supply this growing industry with a toolkit of plant-based ingredient options.
Mycorena. Sweden-based Mycorena aims to bring the circular economy to protein. Promyc, a consumer protein product with higher protein content than meat and soy, is the result of a fermentation process where fungi feed on nutrient-dense side streams from the agriculture industry. This process can remove up to 95 percent of organic residue from the waste stream. Mycorena also sells protein-rich feed for aquaculture.
The Better Meat Co. The Better Meat Co. sells plant-based proteins that producers can blend into ground meat products with the aim of improving the taste texture and boosting health benefits. When food suppliers blend The Better Meat Co. products into their animal-based meat, they can also decrease the environmental footprint of their business.
Quorn. A veteran of the alternative protein industry, Quorn offers a variety of plant-based meat products in 20 countries. Rather than using protein derived from soy or legumes, Quorn products’ key ingredient is mycoprotein, a fungus found in soil, which the company produces on a large-scale through fermentation.
Redefine Meat. Israeli-based Redefine Meat aims to address the challenge of achieving realistic texture in plant-based meats through 3D-printing. The company claims it recently served the first-ever 3D-printed meat in a restaurant and is working on scaling production and lowering costs to launch in Europe by 2020.
Green Monday This Hong Kong-based company hopes is innovating with plant-based meat to the Asian market. Omnipork, Green Common’s flagship product aims to replace pork, the top-consumed meat globally. Green Monday also runs Green Common, a plant-based dining and grocery chain.
Shiok Meats. This cultivated meat company, based in Singapore, plans to disrupt the US$40 billion global shrimp market with their lab-grown shrimp. Recently accepted into the prestigious accelerator Y-Combinator, Shiok Meats is the first cultivated meat company in Southeast Asia.
Solar Foods. Using renewable energy, carbon dioxide, and water, Solar Foods is creating “food out of thin air” using fermentation. The company’s first product Solein is tasteless, has the consistency of flour, and can be used as a protein source in food products like plant-based meats. Solar Foods is also participating in an incubator with the European Space Agency to produce food during space exploration.
Gourmey Gourmey, a Parisian startup is reinventing foie gras. Foie gras production has historically raised ethical concerns due to force-feeding ducks. Gourmey uses cells from duck eggs to grow what is sold as foie gras, and the company plans to soon develop other sustainably produced products.
Wild Type. To combat overfishing and unsustainable fish farms, Wild Type is developing lab-grown seafood. Its debut product is lab-grown salmon, the second most-consumed fish in the U.S. Wild Type is producing minced salmon meat first, but its ultimate goal is to grow cost-competitive salmon filets.
P.S. I’m currently working on Asia’s first Alternative Protein Industry Report in collaboration with Green Queen Media. I’m interviewing stakeholders and attending events across Asia, and I’d love to talk.
