Three startups were selected to participate in Brinc’s first China Alternative Protein Accelerator Program. Together with Lever VC, Brinc is excited to help them solve some of the world’s largest problems in the food industry through their technology solutions.
Brinc’s China Alternative Protein Program was launched jointly with Lever VC, a leading global alternative protein venture capital fund. This program focuses on accelerating and investing in early-stage plant-based and cellular agriculture startups that are operating in China as their primary market and have a strong China angle.
The program runs on a rolling basis, accepting applications from the beginning of each month, with a deadline on the 15th of each month. Once admitted, teams receive an investment of USD 150,000–300,000 and a 3-month bespoke acceleration program focused on the company’s technological development, commercialization, and fundraising strategies.
Here’s a quick rundown of the companies who have joined the Brinc family in China:
New Singularity (TianJin, China) — New Singularity is a biotech company that uses mycelium fermentation as its main technology for producing plant-based seafood. Its mission is to help reduce overfishing around the world. Their first generation products include: plant-based shrimp, tuna and eel, which have achieved early sales traction and revenue. Their second generation products will be ready to launch by June 2021.
In the past three months, they have made huge achievements:
- Developed 3 products, including: shrimp, tuna and eel, with 16 different flavors.
- Achieved initial sales of RMB12,000/month.
- Updated their technology from algae fermentation to mycelium fermentation with algae added in the base, and drastically improved the texture and taste.
CellX (Hangzhou, China) — CellX is a cellular agriculture startup working to revolutionize the traditional meat industry by producing different cell-cultivated meat products, starting with cultivated fish and pork products. Their goal is to provide a sustainable source of animal protein, better health for all human beings, and improve animal welfare.
In the past three months of acceleration, their progress has been remarkable:
- Formed a strategic partnership with one of the leading universities in China.
- Won the International Future Agrifood China top 20 alternative protein, as well as being featured in the Forward Fooding 2020 FoodTech Top 500.
- R&D: satellite cell isolation, proliferation, and differentiation.
- Formed an experienced team of 10 members, consisting of 7 scientists.
Haofood (Shanghai, China) — Haofood is making a tasty and healthy plant-based chicken chop that is designed for fried chicken. They are the first company in the world to use peanut protein as a key ingredient. haofood’s purpose is to help people reduce meat consumption while still enabling them to retain pleasure from eating comfort foods such as fried chicken.
In the past three months, they have made tremendous progress:
- 3 proprietary extrusion technology & formulation patents are ready for submission.
- Their product was successfully taste tested by 200+ consumers with high scores of 9/10.
- Named Top 20 Alternative Protein company by International Future Agrifood China 2020.
- Secured supply chain partnerships to scale production output.
If you are interested in connecting with our startups or becoming a program partner, please email Rebecca Liang at rebecca.liang@brinc.io.
About LEVER VC
Lever VC is a venture capital fund making early stage investments in alternative protein companies: fast-growing plant-based meat and dairy brands and high-tech startups creating real animal protein from cells instead of live animals.
They are a team of early investors in Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats, and other category leaders. They are alternative protein experts with a combined 35+ years experience investing, launching companies, and selling and marketing products in the space. They have deployed over $1.5 billion USD in venture capital and private equity investments, including over 50 early stage alternative protein deals. http://www.LeverVC.com.
About Brinc
Brinc is a different breed of venture capital and accelerator platform. Core to our business is the belief that some of the world’s biggest challenges can be solved by entrepreneurs, who we like to call GAME CHANGERS. We believe that deep technology focused startups can fundamentally change how we move, what we eat, how we feel and where we live for the better if they are given the right backing. That’s what we at Brinc believe are here for. To support and mentor founders and their teams from across the world and provide investment to help them grow. We currently operate twelve multi-disciplinary accelerator programs across six countries and have made 150 investments.
Learn more and apply to our China Alternative Protein Program here.
