Shiok Meats secures funding for commercial pilot plant

  • 29 September 2020
  • Protein
The Singaporean cell-based shrimp start-up has closed a Series A round totalling $12.6 million and welcomed new investors
A check holds a pan with sauteed shrimps

Shiok Meats is one step closer to realise its plan to hit the market with cell-based shrimp products in 2022. The Singaporean start-up has raised $12.6 million in a Series A funding round, and the fresh capital will go into building a commercial pilot plant.

Aqua-Spark, the Dutch sustainable aquaculture-focused investment fund, led the round, which saw new investors Seeds Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore; Real Tech Fund, which is backed by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; and Seoul-based impact venture capital firm VC Yellowdog.

The Series A comes on the heels of a $3 million bridge funding round closed in June, bringing the total of capital raised to $20 million.

Sandhya Sriram and Ka Yi Ling founded Shiok Meats in 2018. The start-up is focused on using cellular technology to grow shrimp cells and create a range of seafood products. The company has already demonstrated its proof of concept cooking shrimp substitute for dumplings in ‘siu mai’, Asia’s classic dish.

Gearing up for commercialising cell-based products, Shiok Meat teamed up with IntegriCulture, a Japanese company headquartered in Tokyo with a patented technology capable of producing animal cell-based food and materials such as meat, leather and other products.