Lever invests five China alternative meat start-ups

The Lever China Alternative Protein Fund, a partnership with manufacturing-focused accelerator Brinc, had raised RMB40 million ($6 million) as of June and remains open. Portfolio companies will have access to up to RMB160 million in follow-on capital from Lever’s flagship global fund, which reached a first close of $23 million last month on a target of $50 million.

The new investees are diversified plant-based meats producer Hero Protein; HaoFood and New Singularity, specialists in chicken and seafood, respectively; and cell-based meat developers Like Foods and Avant Meats. Hong Kong-based Avant, which produces fish meat and whole marine proteins for the food, supplements and beauty industries, is a portfolio company of the flagship fund.

Lever VC was founded in 2018 by Lawrence Chu and Nick Cooney, who were early investors in US category leaders Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. The firm claims to be the first non-mainland VC to invest in alternative protein start-ups in mainland China and the first to invest in cell-cultivate meat in China. Lever Foods, a Shanghai-based consultancy that advises on the alternative protein space, was an early investor in the firm.

“We are very excited to see the accelerating growth of alternative protein in China, with industry giants like Starbucks, KFC, Cargill and Nestle adding plant-based meat and dairy products in recent months,” Lily Chen, program manager of Lever Foods, said in a statement. “In addition to the capital the fund provides, Lever Foods leverages our broad network of contacts in the food and investment sectors to provide our portfolio companies with hands-on support in areas like R&D, fundraising, supply chain, distribution channels, and strategic guidance.”

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Technology
• Early-stage
• China
• Lever VC
• Food
• seed
• manufacturing