Hot on the heels of its US$3.1 million R&D funding round, Avant the first cultivated meat company in China and the first cultivated fish company in Asia, has announced that it is establishing new Research & Development and pilot manufacturing facilities in Singapore. The new facilities will be supplemented by existing operations in Hong Kong.
Avant offers an end-to-end technology platform to produce fish proteins directly from fish cells, including cell line, culture medium, scaffolding, and bioprocess development.
Carrie Chan, Co-founder and CEO, Avant said “Avant has grown its presence in strategic locations in Asia to optimize its market access, technology ecosystem, and funding opportunities. Singapore provides Avant with regulatory clarity, international talents, and sufficient space for the next step of scaling up.”
Singapore is the only country with a regulatory precedent for approving the sale of cell-cultured meats and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) has supported the move. Singapore’s ‘30 by 30’ national food security policy targets to produce 30% of the nation’s nutritional needs locally by 2030, with less than 1% of land designated for agriculture.
“Avant is an example of an alternative protein company which has tapped into the eco-system opportunities in Singapore to bring innovative products to market and capture growth opportunities in Asia.” said Damian Chan, Executive Vice President, Singapore EDB. “We welcome their expansion here and will continue to work with companies to leverage Singapore to enable innovations in sustainable Agri-Food technologies.”
Asia Pacific dominates the global fish and seafood markets at US$60.5 billion in 2018 and Asia is projected to account for 71% of the additional fish consumed by 2028. The expansion represents an important milestone of Avant’s pan-Asia strategy.
