Good Morning Dear Mumbai Multimedia Studio Reader,
As promised this week we will only focus on business so here you go in comparison with India and other strong Asian countries. Sometime in March, India's largest milk producer, Amul, released full-page ads in newspapers with a "fact check" about plant-based dairy analogue products. It tried to make its case for people to avoid these products and support actual dairy by invoking Indian mythology and the government's Make in India initiative. Then, a couple of months later, Amul got into an ugly, public spat with animal rights organisation PETA over the same matter. Amul has been waging a battle against plant-based dairy for a while, and doesn't want companies selling these products to associate themselves with the word "milk". Similar scenes have played out in the US, where traditional meat makers are pushing regulators to scrutinize alt-meat producers. These are battles that are likely to play out for a while.
Which is why we were totally surprised when we reviewed an article about the alt-meat scene in Singapore. There's no pushback whatsoever and, in fact, the government is completely behind the industry. Singapore already has around 30 startups in this space, some of which have big, unicorn dreams. For instance, Next Gen, launched only in October 2020, raised a US$10 million seed round in February, which is supposedly the largest ever by a plant-based foodtech startup. Next Gen's plant-based chicken product has already reached 70 restaurants in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau. And it's now got its eyes on the US and Europe. Singapore wants to become a global hub for agri-foodtech, including alt-proteins. Enterprise Singapore, a government agency overseeing enterprise growth, is doing its bit via grants and helping alt-protein startups scale globally. But can a tiny country with barely any natural resources actually become a hub for alt-meat? Do the likes of Next Gen stand a real chance of rubbing shoulders with global giants like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat?
