Plant-based food startup Next Gen raises $10m in funding round

Singapore’s plant-based food startup Next Gen just raised $10m in a seed funding round from investors.

The company, which will launch a plant-based chicken brand called TiNDLE in Singapore next month, announced the funding on Thursday and said it had been the largest seed round ever raised by a plant-based food tech firm.

Investors include Temasek, K3 Ventures, EDB New Ventures (an investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board), NX-Food, FEBE Ventures and Blue Horizon.

This is the first time the startup has taken external investment, and the funding exceeded its original target of $7m.

Food-tech startups are gaining traction in the area mainly because of government initiatives that support the development of meat alternative products.

Next Gen was launched last October by Timo Recker and Andre Menezes, with $2.2 million of founder capital.

Menezes, Next Gen’s chief operating officer, told TechCrunch that the company’s goal is to be the global leader in plant-based chicken, the way Impossible and Beyond are known for their burgers.