Startup Raises $4.6 Million to Wipe Out Cruel Shrimp Industry

Singapore-based biotechnology startup Shiok Meats recently closed a $4.6 million seed funding round led by Monde Nisson (parent company of plant-based meat brand Quorn) and incubator Y Combinator. Led by biologists Sandhya Sriram and Ka Yi Ling, Shiok aims to disrupt the global shrimp industry with its shrimp made from a small number of animal cells in a laboratory setting. “The taste was really good, very promising,” Monde Nissin CEO Henry Soesanto said of Shiok’s shrimp that it exhibited for the first time at The Disruption in Food and Sustainability Summit on March 29th at the Grand Hyatt Singapore. The company will use funding from this investment round to grow its team, fuel research and development, and scale production with the goal of commercialization in two to three years. In addition to shrimp, Shiok plans to develop crab and lobster to tackle the cruel crustacean industry in the Asia-Pacific region where the Associated Press reports slave labor continues to be a human-rights issue.