With Albert Tseng, Co-founder, Dao Foods International
Tai Lin, Managing Partner, Proterra Asia
William Koo, Managing Director, Temasek Life Sciences Accelerator
Asia is marching ahead as a hub for global alternative food companies seeking to expand to gain a leading position in some of the world’s largest consumer markets. Alternative protein startups, the nascent category touted as the future of food, have been fast garnering investor interest with deal value in the region growing to $155 million in 2020 compared to just $5.3 million in 2019.
Apart from sustainability concerns and shifts in consumption behaviour, what is driving growth in the sector? How are alt protein companies changing the economics of food? What do investors stand to gain?
Featuring top executives from Proterra Asia, Dao Foods and Temasek accelerator, this panel will explore the facets driving the sector and the challenges to the road ahead.
Proterra Investment Partners, spun-out of agribusiness giant Cargill in 2016, is focused on investments in the food sector and manages $3.8 billion in AUM. Proterra Asia manages over $1.5 billion in its Asia-focused Food funds. Lin believes that direct exposure to food, which forms the largest portion of the continent’s Consumer Price Index basket, is requisite for a direct connection with the Asian consumer.
Cross-border investment firm Dao Foods is targeting to back investments in about 30 China-based alternative protein startups in the next three years. Temasek Life Sciences Accelerator, a JV between Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory and Vertex Holdings, is Singapore’s first agri-bio-sci-tech incubator that aims to incubate, nurture and grow disruptive life science innovations into early stage companies. Singapore’s Temasek is an active investor in the alternative protein space.
