Alternative Protein

USDA approval for Upside Foods and Good Meat was a significant milestone for an industry that has a long way to go before it appears on a supermarket shelf near you.

‘Anti-scientific and anti-Italian’ cultured meat was prohibited from being sold by lawmakers in Italy, a rare setback for what has seemed to be a steady rise in interest in the sector.

The French private equity firm’s chilled food platform, The Compleat Food Group, has added another British start-up to its stable.

Land-based aquaculture investments, debt-for-nature swaps and DFI-backed investments are on an upward trajectory but the scale of capital needed remains daunting.

The start-up is also pursing regulatory approval for its beef product in Switzerland.

Participants at the Future Food-Tech Alternative Proteins conference in New York drew encouragement from the USDA's approval of cultivated chicken while examining challenges and opportunities across a diverse set of markets.

The venture capital investor raised its debut $50m vehicle during the pandemic and hit its fundraising target in May 2021.

Chief executive Lionel Kambeitz says Above Foods will look to partner with large-scale regenerative operations developed in Saskatchewan, amid regional restrictions on institutional farmland investment.

The firm closed Anterra FA Ventures II in February 2022 but the vehicle is still only 30% deployed because the firm correctly judged the agtech market to be overpriced – now it's ready to go shopping.

Anterra Capital, Astanor Ventures, Earth First Food Ventures and Milltrust International all tell Agri Investor the time is right to take advantage of the tech slump.