Mottainai’s new product Jiro Meat is made with okara, a byproduct of soy milk manufacturing

Most of us toss out meals scraps and not using a second thought. However for Singapore startup Mottainai Meals Tech, waste is the place to begin for its subsequent meals innovation.

For each 1,000 litres of soymilk produced, about 250kg of okara is generated—a nutritionally dense byproduct that normally finally ends up as animal feed or just tossed. At Mottainai nonetheless, the staff is popping this into Jiro Meat, a brand new form of plant-protein that’s produced by means of fermentation.

I spoke with Daryl Pek, one of many co-founders of Mottainai, to study extra in regards to the startup’s journey and why they consider Jiro Meat can stand out within the different protein business.

Overcoming scepticism

Based in 2022, Mottainai Meals Tech has spent the previous three years creating its first product, Jiro Meat.

Its important part is okara. Whereas filled with vitamins, there aren’t some ways to upcycle okara—and even whenever you do, it tastes bland, making flavour one of many greatest challenges.

The breakthrough got here when the staff found that fermentation may remodel okara’s tasteless base kind into one thing resembling minced hen.

Early on, Daryl shared that the startup was typically informed they have been strolling into a tricky struggle, that different meat was a dangerous play, and possibly even the mistaken market to enter.

That scepticism wasn’t misplaced, although. Through the years, loads of startups have stalled or shut down, particularly these engaged on lab-grown meat, the place affordability and scale stay big roadblocks.

Even for plant-based proteins, the grass hasn’t precisely been greener. Lengthy ingredient lists, typically 40 to 50 objects, have left shoppers perplexed about what they’re consuming, slowing mainstream adoption.

Moreover, it looks as if Mottainai could have been late to enter the business: the hype round plant-based meat peaked between 2019 and 2021, and has solely continued to fade since.

World funding for the sector fell sharply in 2022, dropping to round US$2.9 billion, a 42% lower from the 2021 peak of US$5.1 billion, in response to The Good Meals Institute (GFI). Funding has continued to say no since, falling to US$1.6 billion in 2023 and US$1.1 billion in 2024.

Regardless of these challenges, Mottainai gained early validation in 2022 when it gained the DBS Basis × NEA Hungry for Change Problem, a contest geared toward progressive options to meals waste.

The award got here with S$25,000 in funding, offering the fledgling startup with capital at a time when funding in different protein ventures was beginning to dry up.

With the funding from the problem, Mottainai constructed a lab in 2023 and scaled manufacturing from tons of of grams each two days to some kilograms.

By 2024, with extra assist together with a grant from Enterprise Singapore and an funding from Tai Hua Meals Industries, the household enterprise of Daryl, the place he serves as a director, the startup’s complete funding reached a “low seven-figure sum.”

The capital went into establishing a pilot manufacturing facility, which has since been fine-tuned and is now able to producing 200 kilograms of Jiro Meat each two days.

Early suggestions has been optimistic

What units Jiro Meat aside, Daryl defined, is its simplicity and price competitiveness. 

In contrast to many plant-based meats available on the market that depend on a myriad of various components for manufacturing, Mottainai’s product is made with fewer than three. Fermentation does the heavy lifting, producing a texture and dietary profile that’s “naturally excessive” in protein and fiber, and freed from ldl cholesterol.

Value is one other key differentiator. Mottainai’s monetary fashions present that Jiro Meat might be priced on par with hen and pork, making it much more accessible to on a regular basis shoppers.

We’re [pricing] it as aggressive as attainable. If we need to value it three to 4 occasions the value of actual meat, it may survive by itself for some time, however it might not be capable to penetrate the market, actually, on a large scale.

Although Daryl didn’t share names, he mentioned the startup has already begun working with meals service suppliers and different purchasers, and thus far, the suggestions has been optimistic.

Past this, Mottainai can also be exploring alternatives within the eldercare and healthcare sectors, the place the product’s dietary profile may make it a more healthy different to conventional protein sources.

For now, the startup doesn’t plan to promote Jiro Meat on to shoppers, as altering perceptions about plant-based meat would require an excessive amount of money and time.

There’s additionally the problem of preparation. Shoppers could discover it onerous to prepare dinner Jiro Meat correctly, whereas skilled cooks are higher positioned to deliver out its flavour, whether or not by means of seasoning or mixing it with different components. With the best cooking strategies, mixed with Jiro Meat’s inherent flavour and texture, “the result’s a product that tastes identical to actual meat,” in response to Daryl.

That mentioned, Mottainai isn’t producing at scale simply but. Daryl says that within the curiosity of high quality, Mottainai continues to be taking its time to scale up. Nonetheless, they’re already seeing credible curiosity in Jiro Meat.

Extra capital continues to be wanted, even because the okara comes free

Whereas its present spherical of funding is sufficient to assist operations, Daryl acknowledged that it gained’t be enough in the long term. As demand grows, the staff expects to lift extra capital.

When requested if provide can be a priority as manufacturing scales, he was fast to dismiss the fear. At present, Mottainai secures its okara fully free by means of a partnership with an area firm, guaranteeing a gradual pipeline for the subsequent few years.

And even when demand outstrips that, Singapore alone produces about 10,000 tonnes of okara yearly. Bigger soy milk and tofu producers generate tonnes of pulp each day, a lot of it constant in high quality due to ISO certifications. “Even when demand rises, the supply is definitely fairly steady,” Daryl mentioned.

“Even when we do go international or regional, okara can also be ample in all places else on the planet. It surges to tens of millions of tonnes.”

Setting their sights past okara

To enhance its core work on Jiro Meat, Mottainai additionally generates revenue by providing fermentation consulting providers, serving to different corporations develop merchandise from meals facet streams. This ties in with the startup’s broader imaginative and prescient: it doesn’t see itself as a plant-based model or an alternate meat enterprise, however as a meals tech firm targeted on upcycling meals by-products.

The staff is already exploring different supplies past okara. Oil muffins (the by-product of cold-pressing vegetable oils) and spent barley grain are a number of the facet streams they’re experimenting with. By partnering with different corporations, Mottainai hopes to co-develop these merchandise and scale them from lab stage all the way in which to market.

The journey so far hasn’t been simple for Mottainai. Trying again, Daryl mentioned that the startup has continuously “put out fires” all through their journey, and that the staff continues to be tackling challenges each day. Whereas he didn’t need to go into element about particular hurdles, he acknowledged that roadblocks are “half and parcel of entrepreneurship.”

Even so, Daryl stays assured that the startup will succeed. With a rising roster of companions, and a number of merchandise within the pipeline, he believes Mottainai is well-positioned to scale its know-how and proceed turning meals waste into sustainable protein merchandise.

• Discover out extra about Mottainai Meals Tech right here.
• Learn different articles we’ve written on Singaporean companies right here.

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Featured Picture Credit score: Mottainai Meals Tech/ Rachel Ong through Fb