Shiok Meats, co-founded by Dr. Sandhya Sriram, CEO, and Dr. Ka Yi Ling, CTO has come a long way since its inception in 2018 as the first cultivated seafood and meat company in Southeast Asia and the first cultivated crustacean (shrimp, lobster, crab, crayfish) company globally to bring sustainable, healthy, cruelty-free, and delicious cultivated meat to the world.
They are committed to bringing this novel technology to the forefront of global food systems to feed 10 billion people by 2050. As a pioneer venture, they also continue to educate consumers on the benefits of cell-based meat technology for the environment, human health, and animal welfare.
Shiok Meats has made significant progress in a short span of three years. They launched their first cell-based shrimp and lobster prototypes in exclusive tasting sessions in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The company currently employs 30+ scientists, engineers, food technologists, and business professionals and intends to launch in Singapore latest by 2023.
Shiok Meats, headquartered at Singapore, has also received the coveted Startup SG Tech Proof-of-Value (POV) grant from Enterprise Singapore to fast-track technology development/commercialization.
Shiok Meats is the world’s first cell-based crustacean meat company to raise a bridge funding round from South Korea’s leading food industry players Woowa Brothers Asia Holdings and CJ CheilJedang Corporation and Vietnam’s top seafood exporter Vinh Hoan Corporation. The total raised capital has reached approximately US$30 million till date.
This bridge round also included further investment from existing investors such as IRONGREY (Korean family office investing in global tech companies), Big Idea Ventures (USA/Singapore), Twynam Investments (Australia), Henry Soesanto (CEO of Monde Nissin), The Alexander Payne Living Trust (USA), Beyond Impact Vegan Partners (Europe), Boom Capital Fund (USA), Toyo Seikan Group Holdings (a Japan-based packaging and manufacturing company) and Mindshift Capital (UAE).
The Shiok team is very excited to be backed by partners who believe in their potential to scale and are equally passionate about the cell-based meat and seafood space. The next 12-18 months will be crucial, as the funds will allow them to advance their R&D efforts and build a state-of-the-art production facility in Singapore. They will expand operations, collaborations and also work on vertical and/or horizontal integration within the alternative protein industry.
Dr. Sandhya Sriram, the CEO, and co-founder of Shiok Meats Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has over ten years of experience working with muscle, adipose, cells, and stem cells. After graduating with a Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, she pursued her postdoctoral work at A*STAR in Singapore. After postdoctoral work, she took up business development at a research institute. A multifaceted and talented Dr. Sandhya has been recently named as part of the 2021 class of Bloomberg New Economy Catalysts and as one of Forbes Women in Tech.
She is also an advisor and investor to trailblazing Food Tech start-ups and has spoken at leading industry conferences worldwide. A proud mother to a 7-year-old, she is a ‘conscious lifestyle’ blogger, and an avid traveler and in her own word a ‘productive juggler.’
