“There is no other option for the survival of starving humanity.”

2024-05-04 15:49:06

[토요기획] ‘Hot potato’ cultured meat amid food crisis
Interview with ‘cultured meat investment expert’ Isabelle Desitre, CEO of ID Capital
A market with great potential, now is the right time to invest… Synergy with traditional livestock farming
Korean cultured meat companies growing rapidly

“This is the ‘opportunity of the century’ for investing in cultured meat startups. “Because there is no other option for starving humanity to continue to survive (in the future) without destroying the Earth.”

Isabelle Desitre (CEO, photo), CEO of ID Capital, a food tech investment company in Singapore, said this about the current investment situation in cultured meat startups in a recent email interview.

As the venture investment market has cooled since last year, investment in cultured meat startups has also slowed down. According to the Korea Biotechnology Association, global investment in cultured meat companies continued to rise to $1.82 billion (approximately KRW 2.52 trillion) in 2021 and $1.01 billion in the first half of 2022 (January to June), but fell in the second half (January to June). From July to December), investment began to decline little by little.

Regarding the current situation, CEO De Citre said, “I think now is the right time to invest rather than when everyone else is investing.” He added, “Some investors think cultured meat technology is in the very distant future, but we believe that cultured meat technology is in the early future.” “I think it has the potential to have a significant impact.”

Founded in 2014, ID Capital invests in a variety of food tech companies, including alternative proteins, including cultured meat, and smart agricultural technology. In 2016, it launched ‘Future Food Asia (FFA)’, an IR pitching competition where food tech startups in the Asia-Pacific region gathered together to introduce the technologies they are developing. The winning company in the pitching contest will receive a prize of $100,000 (about 140 million won).

This year, Simple Planet, a domestic cultured meat development company, advanced to the finals. CEO De Citre said, “We have met with Korean food tech entrepreneurs over the past eight years and have been very impressed by the rapid development of the ecosystem. We believe we can become a key country in the cultured meat value chain.”

At this year’s FFA, which will be held for two days starting on the 15th of this month, various discussions will be held under the major theme of ‘Nutrition and Inclusion’. One of them is ‘symbiosis’ with traditional agriculture and livestock farming. CEO De Citre said, “There is clearly a backlash from the livestock industry against cultured meat. Some believe that cultured meat threatens the livestock industry, but others believe that traditional livestock farming and the cultured meat industry can exert great synergy.” He said. The explanation is that existing livestock farmers or processors who are familiar with the ingredients and characteristics of meat can help create and process the ingredients of cultured meat.

CEO Desitre said, “Innovation is always full of conflict. “If large-scale investment in cultured meat continues and scientific progress is made, many conflicts will be resolved,” he said.

Reporter Choi Ji-won [e-mail]

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2024-05-04 15:49:06