附近上门

When it comes to savory, protein-rich meals, it used to be only carnivores who had a lot of choices. Now, the faux carnivores are catching up.

From Nashville-style hot chicken, to buttery, meaty pot pies, to spicy Asian-fusion tacos, there are plenty of tempting options featuring plant-based proteins.

And those are just the dishes featured by one venture-backed startup: Singapore-based , which just announced a $100 million Series A funding round. The investment comes as the company announces its expansion into North America through a network of restaurant partnerships.

Founded in 2020, Next Gen is best known for TiNDLE, a product made from soy protein and other ingredients blended to mimic the texture and taste of chicken. Its signature ingredient, Lipi, is a plant-based substitute for chicken fat.

Next Gen鈥檚 funding comes as investment in protein-rich alternatives to animal agriculture is on the rise. In the past two years, venture and growth investors have across hundreds of rounds for companies that describe themselves as developers and popularizers of plant-based foods, per 附近上门 data.聽

Some of the largest recent funding recipients include:

• ,聽 a maker of meat alternatives known for its plant-based burgers, raised $500 million in a November growth funding round;
• , a Chilean startup that makes plant-based meat and dairy alternatives, raised $370 million in a Series D round in July; and
• , a Boston-based food technology company focused on plant-based foods, raised $226 million in a June Series B round.

Billions more are going to lab-grown meat startups, a sector that鈥檚 still many years from broad commercialization. In 2020 and 2021, investors poured more than $2 billion into startups around the world working on cell-cultured meat and other cell-cultured meat alternatives, per 附近上门 data.

On the plant-based side, Next Gen alone has attracted a long list of backers. Investors in the Series A include new backers , and , along with return backers , , and . The latest financing brings total funding to date for the 2-year-old company to $130 million.

And clearly, investors remain hungry for more deals in the space.

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