Shanghai based alternative protein startup 70/30 Food Tech is set to launch its ready meal products, using its in-house biomass fermented protein. This protein, the key component developed by the R&D team of the startup, serves as a meat replacement that mimics the texture and nutrition profile of shredded chicken. The company will be the first to launch a mycelium protein product onto the Chinese market and recently closed its angel round for an undisclosed amount, from global impact investor New Crop Capital and others.
70/30 is also a company in the Dao Foods Investment portfolio, a VC firm that is laser focused on accelerating alternative protein companies serving the mainstream Chinese market. Since its launch, 70/30 has sold 25,000+ functional plant-based meals with zero advertising budget.
The company's innovation strategy lead, Eve Samyuktha, said, "It was clear to us that we needed a meat replacement that is textured like meat but is also as natural and whole as the other components of our meal bowls. This biomass protein is 'harvested' with our in-house process and utility design. " She is an Imperial College London graduate and a chemical engineer with over 15 years of experience in product scale up science. She is also the founder of Plant Based Consulting China.
The Good Food institute (GFI) recognizes fermentation as the third pillar in the alternative protein industry (alongside cell-cultured and plant-based), and it has attracted $435m in investment capital in 2020 alone, according to GFI.
"We sold over 25,000 ready meal products to over 1,600 customers in 2021 as part of our pilot test launch. We have gathered valuable data on how the average '996' worker in cities make their food decisions, and their expectations of plant-based food," said co-founder and Chief Product Developer Mike Huang.
70/30 will increase production capacity with their manufacturing partner, Shanghai Qingmei Green Food Group, an industry giant in China that has a massive network of cold chain logistics at their new facility in Shanghai. Through this partnership, 70/30 will scale-up production and reach nationwide distribution of its healthy and tasty meal plans in the last quarter of 2022.
The company will soon launch its series A round of funding for scaling-up production of the mycelium protein, growing the research and development team and bring out exciting new products created for the Chinese consumer.