Singapore-based venture capital firm Big Idea Ventures has raised $50m for the final close of its New Protein Fund I, from limited partners including multiple corporates, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday.
France-headquartered cheese producer Le Groupe Bel, Sweden-based vegetable oil and fats provider AAK and Japan-based confectionery manufacturer Meiji all committed to Big Idea’s New Protein Fund 1, founder and managing general partner Andrew Ive told DealStreetAsia.
The LPs also included Switzerland-based food production equipment manufacturer Bühler, and US-headquartered meat processing group Tyson Foods.
Big Idea Ventures targets investments in developers of plant-based foods and the infrastructure to support them. It also runs an accelerator scheme with branches in the US, France and its home country.
The firm’s portfolio companies include Shiok Meats, a cell-based seafood producer headquartered in Singapore, as well as US-based laboratory-grown meat producer Orbillion Bio and Sweden-based Hooked, which is working on plant-based fish substitutes.
Ive told DealStreetAsia: “We have had much more corporate interest than we had in previous years. During covid-19, a number of them stepped up quickly, started to evaluate the fund and got involved.”
