Growthwell Foods, a Singapore-based alternative meat, and seafood company, has raised US $22 million in Series A investment headed by Creadev, a private equity group.
The round was co-invested in by GGV Capital, Iris Fund, and previous investors Temasek and DSG Consumer Partners.
According to a press release, the new fund is roughly three times the amount raised in 2019. Growthwell Foods intends to use the funds to boost its Southeast Asian company expansion and product development activities.
The funds will be used to help Growthwell achieve its goal of becoming “Asia’s top plant nutrition foodtech firm,” according to the company. It aspires to provide sustainable and healthy plant-based options to 100 million people while reducing the world’s dependency on meat and fish and, as a result, lowering environmental impact.”
Growthwell Foods has been producing plant-based meat and seafood solutions for F&B enterprises and organizations all around the world since 1989. The firm began with meat substitutes and now concentrates on seafood alternatives. It intends to provide new seafood and chicken alternative line to cater to the rising number of flexitarians.
Growthwell is also establishing a technology center to increase its manufacturing and distribution capabilities. The hub will house cutting-edge technology to meet the region’s rising need for plant-based meat and seafood alternatives.
Jenny Lee, the managing partner at GGV Capital, added: “Sustainability, especially around the food supply chain and ingredient sources, is a key thesis for the GGV team globally. We look forward to partnering with Growthwell to capture the big mass-market opportunity in alternative protein and to develop new, affordable, and delicious plant-based analogues that people from all walks of life will enjoy eating.”
Several firms, like Shiok Meats and Next Gen, are functioning in Singapore. Next-Gen Foods, a plant-based foodtech startup, raised $20 million in July from a group of investors that included Temasek and K3 Ventures. Shiok Meats, another business in this sector, received US$12.6 million in a Series A investment round headed by Aqua-Spark in September 2020.
According to UBS, the worldwide plant-based protein market is anticipated to reach US$85 billion by 2030. For the first three quarters of 2020, global food technology investment totaled US$8.37 billion, above the US$7 billion raised in 2019.
