S'pore research institutes pump resources into fermentation tech

Rising global interest in new proteins sees higher levels of funding

- Cheryl Tan

As investor interest in fermentation-based proteins rises globally, research institutes in Singapore are pumping in more resources to better support the nascent sector here.

This comes after a number of overseas fermentation start-ups received regulatory approval to launch in Singapore, but are instead prioritising larger markets such as the United States and European Union.

Compared with plant-based proteins and cultivated meat, fermentation-based proteins have been traditionally underfunded, but in the first half of 2024 they achieved high levels of funding globally, outpacing the other two categories.

According to alternative protein think-tank The Good Food Institute (GFI), US$398 million (S$510 million) in capital was invested in fermentation companies globally in just the first half of 2024, compared with US$130 million for cultivated meat and US$138 million for plant-based proteins. In comparison, US$443 million was invested in fermentation companies in the whole of 2023.

One factor behind the increasing investments could be that the fermentation sector is generally at an earlier stage of growth compared with the plant-based proteins sector, as companies are now scaling up production and would require more funding to do so, said GFI Asia-Pacific's (APAC) managing director Mirte Gosker.

Plant-based proteins, on the other hand, have been in the market for much longer, she added.

While traditional methods of fermentation are age-old, new fermentation techniques – which typically fall under two broad categories of biomass and precision fermentation – are emerging as a more sustainable way of producing proteins and other food ingredients.

Biomass fermentation start-ups – which have always received the bulk of funding – create new food products by essentially growing protein-rich microbes in a bioreactor for direct consumption.