Singapore-based food tech startup Umami Meats will be moving forward in advancing technology for cultivated seafood, as it has secured $2.4 million in pre-seed funding. This will go towards the company’s goal of creating healthy, sustainable seafood without using animals or causing heavy impacts to the ocean.

The fund will be utilised to further develop plant-derived growth serum, which will be integrated in its future robust cell lines from multiple fish species. Additionally, Umami Meats will also create a low-cost tech platform for scalable cell-based manufacturing. They plan to ensure processes are effective before conducting product demos and taste tests.

Mihir Pershad, Founder and CEO of Umami Meats commented: “We are delighted to have partnered with this group of like-minded investors who share our vision for sustainable seafood. Seafood is a $180 billion industry faced with growing global demand and supply that is increasingly volatile and under threat from climate change, overfishing, and ocean pollutants. Our investors’ commitment to a safer, healthier, and more sustainable food system, combined with deep industry knowledge in agri-food and alternative proteins, will be a valuable resource in establishing cultivated seafood as a viable, sustainable solution to the growing demand for seafood while reducing pressures on ocean ecosystems.”

The pre-seed funding round was co-led by Better Bite Ventures, an APAC-focused alt protein VC, and Genedant, a VC investing in early-stage, deep-tech biomedical and agri-food startups in Asia. Further participants in the round include CULT Food Science, Impact Venture, Katapult Ocean, Plug & Play Ventures, Prithvi Ventures, The Yield Lab Asia Pacific, and Venture for America.