Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Avant Meats

Avant Meats Announces New R&D and Pilot Manufacturing Facilities in Singapore

Avant Meats, which makes cell-based fish, announced today that it is establishing new R&D and pilot production facilities in Singapore, created with the support of the Singapore Economic Board.

The Hong Kong-based Avant cultivates fish cells to make cultured fish products, starting with sea cucumber and fish maw. The company says it is the first cultivated meat startup in China and the first cultivated fish startup in Asia.

This new facility is just the latest move from Avant to scale up production of its cultivated fish and bring it to the mainstream. Last month, Avant announced that it had achieved a 90 percent cost reduction in the production of its cultivated fish, and that it had partnered with Chinese biopharmaceutical company QuaCell to bring those costs down another 75 percent.

In the press announcement emailed to The Spoon, Carrie Chan, Co-founder and CEO, Avant said “Singapore provides Avant with regulatory clarity, international talents, and sufficient space for the next step of scaling up.”

Indeed, Singapore has been a leader in the cultured protein space. Singapore became the first country in the world to authorize the sale of cultured meat back in December of 2020. Singapore residents can now even order cultured meat for home delivery, thanks to a partnership between Eat Just and foodpanda.

But Avant is also the latest cultivated meat company to build a pilot production facility. BlueNalu, a U.S.-based cultivated fish startup, raised $60 million this year to open its pilot facility in San Diego this year. And Israeli startup Aleph Farms announced its plans to have its BioFarm pilot plant operational by 2022.

Getting these pilot production facilities up and running is a key step in cultivated meat achieving mainstream adoption. When the BlueNalu facility goes live, it will produce 200 – 500 pounds of commercial grade cultivated fish a week for restaurants and other foodservice operators. As the production of cultivated fish and other proteins ramp up, the cost will come down, bringing much-needed price parity with traditional, animal-based meat.

Avant Meats Says it has Achieved 90 Percent Cost Reduction for Its Cultured Protein

Avant Meats announced today via an emailed press release, that it has achieved a 90 percent reduction in the cost of producing its cultured functional proteins. The Hong Kong-based company also announced that it has partnered with Chinese biopharmaceutical company QuaCell to bring the cost down even further.

Avant is best-known as the company using fish cells to create cultured fish maw and sea cucumbers, both of which are considered delicacies in Chinese cuisine. The company conducted the first tasting of its fish maw product back in November of 2019.

Avant said that it will combine its cell-cultivation technology with QuaCell’s 7,000 m2 ISO and GMP accredited facilities in China, which are equipped with bioreactors that can reach 2,000 liters to supply FDA-compliant customers globally.

Avant said that it has already achieved a 90 percent cost reduction in the production of its proteins using the company’s fetal bovine serum (FBS)-free cell culture media. With the QuaCell partnership, Avant said that that it will target and additional 75 percent cost reduction. It plans to do this by converting ingredients to food grade from pharma grade and by optimizing its formula for large-scale bioreactors. Avant also said that its partnership with QuaCell will reduce its capital expenditure and accelerate its ability to scale by at least 12 months.

Price parity with animal-based meat has been a priority for the cultured meat sector as the industry aims to bring products into the mainstream. But as new and established startups in the cultured meat space continue to innovate, the timeline for that parity continues to shrink. Future Meat brought the cost of its cell-based chicken down 1,000x over the last three years, with a quarter pound serving now costing $7.50. CellulaREvolution just raised $1.37 million for its bioreactor technology that can continuously produce cells in a serum-free environment in small footprint. And in a recent Spoon podcast, Jim Mellon, author of Moo’s Law: An Investor’s Guide to the New Agrarian Revolution, predicted that cell cultured meat will hit price parity in just five years and will eventually be cheaper to produce than both traditional animal meat and plant-based meat.

Deals like the one between Avant and QuaCell, which pair a startup’s innovation with an established manufacturer, should certainly help increase production of cell-based protein and bring the price down in the process.


Food Tech News: Food Waste Protein Powder and Nike Coffee Sneakers

It’s that time of week! Food Tech News is here, and stories on protein powder made from food waste, a cell-based protein ingredient for skin care, and Nike’s new coffee sneakers.

Nutrapharma is making protein powder from food waste

Nutrapharma, a UK-based pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and agri-tech lab, shared this week that they are creating a protein powder made from food waste. The company is using excess fruits and vegetables and produce scraps and turning them into a protein-rich powder that can be added to a variety of different supplements. It was undisclosed if the company is using any particular types of fruit or vegetables, but it did share that some of the first samples of the protein powder are higher in protein than whey protein. Because the powder is made from dried and milled fruit and vegetables, it will also contain nutrients like a variety of vitamins and minerals.

Photo from Zellulin’s website

Avant Meat enters skincare industry

Avant Meats, which produces cell-based fish maw and sea cucumber alternatives, announced this week that it has entered the skincare industry with a new anti-aging ingredient product. The company is using its cell-based biotechnology to create marine protein peptides, which are typically found in supplements, face creams, and other beauty products. The product is called Zellulin, and will be used as an ingredient for anti-aging skin care products. Like Avant’s other cell-based products, the cell-based protein-peptide does not require any animals to be slaughtered or harmed. The company shared that they will be able to commercialize the cell-based marine protein-peptide product faster than its cell-based seafood products because it does not require pre-market approval.

Photo from The Drop Date website

Nike’s coffee themed shoes

Maybe this isn’t directly tied into the world of food tech, but it’s still neat. Nike unveiled a new line of shoes called the “Coffee Pack” on the website called The Drop Date this week. There are three styles, including the Daybreak, the Air Max 97, and the Air Force 1 Low. Each shoe showcases the different colors of coffee beverages, like the dark brown of black coffee and the creamy tan color of a latte. A cat sitting in a coffee mug is printed on the insole, while the heel and tongue of the shoe read “Roasted by Nike”. The shoes are currently only available in Asia, but will launch in the US at some point as well.

Hong Kong’s Avant Meats Raises $3.1M for Its Cell-Based Seafood

Cell-based protein startup Avant Meats announced this week it had closed a $3.1 million seed round of funding. The round included participation from China Venture Capital, AngelHub, ParticleX, Lever VC, CPT Capital, Loyal VC, Artesian, and 208 Seed Ventures. PTG Food and Regal Springs Chairman Markus Haefeli also participated. 

Avant said in a press release posted to the company’s LinkedIn page that it will use the new funding to “fuel R&D and commercialization of its cultivated fish products.” The Hong Kong-based startup uses fish cells to make cultivated seafood products, including fish maw and sea cucumber. Avant held its first taste test of its fish maw product in November of 2019.

Fish maw and sea cucumber are both considered delicacies in Chinese cuisine, and Avant’s decision to start with those is strategic in terms of attracting its target demographic: consumers in China and Hong Kong. There are environmental reasons, too. Fish maw is in such high demand the species hunted for it are on the brink of extinction.

In addition to the above delicacies, Avant has also debuted a prototype for Asia’s first cultivated fish fillet, which was recently featured in a cooking demonstration from Hong Kong culinary star Chef Eddy.

In this week’s press release, Avant said part of its new funding will go towards lowering production costs of its cell-based seafood products. The company hopes to bring products to market in 2021. 

That date, while right around the corner, actually seems feasible given the recent developments in the cell-based protein space. Most notably, earlier this week Eat Just became the world’s first company to get regulatory approval for selling cultured meat products. The company will start in Singapore.

Eat Just’s regulatory milestone paves the way for other startups, including Avant, to start the journey from successful prototype to mainstream commercialization. That’s not to say Avant will be selling its fish maw on grocery store shelves next year. But we Hong Kong residents and those in other parts of Asia may see it at more testings and demonstrations and on restaurant menus in the months to come.