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The new alternative player to plant-based meat, Next Gen, has taken root in Singapore with a research and development (R&D) center and its headquarters here.
The local firm, which has six employees, including its co-founders and chief technology officer, intends to launch its alternative chicken product by March next year. The firm officially launched today.
Its seed funding of $ 2.2 million (S $ 3 million) is provided by co-founder and CEO Timo Recker, through his departure from German meat company LikeMeat following its acquisition earlier this year.
The company’s co-founder and COO Andre Menezes told The Straits Times that the seed money has been used to bring the company’s team together here and put its R&D center, which is located on Shenton Way, into operation. . It is also channeled into the development of trade associations and branding, he added.
The firm is currently considering a bridge financing round, due to close at the end of the year, for its expansion plans in Asia.
It also aims to raise another round of funding in the second half of next year, Recker said.
Next Gen currently has a manufacturing capacity that can supply around 9,000 restaurants per year, through its partner in the Netherlands. Rather than run its own factories, Next Gen has chosen to emulate major players and work with manufacturing partners around the world, Menezes said.
“We decided early on that we want to develop a model where we can expand globally quickly … Demand for this category has been booming,” he said, adding that they were looking for a network and a supply chain model that could work. cope with rapid expansion.
Mr. Menezes has worked in Singapore for close to five years and was previously the CEO of Country Foods, which distributes alternative meat products from Impossible Foods in Singapore.
He pointed to Singapore’s enabling business environment, its budding agri-food ecosystem, and the sheer number of chefs from different cuisines as reasons for Next Gen’s decision to settle here.
Mr Recker added: “If you look at today’s markets, the United States, Europe are obviously very developed in the plant-based meat space. In Asia, we see great potential, but the market is not yet developed. at the same level. grade.
“(We think) we can really bring the technology and the product here, and create a market leading company in a field that is not busy yet. There are players who make beef or pork burgers, but no one is really moving forward with chicken .. “
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