We are grateful to have such informed panellists covering the range of topics that startups and investors need to hear about in order to venture into the alternative protein sector. It is so important to promote this sector as a response to humanity’s efforts to tackle climate change.

It is important to be nuanced, the sales growth is different in different geographies and is still massive in Europe.

A movement from basic products to more sophisticated products is evident. These provide better functionality, nutritional value and sensory properties. Seafood alternatives have greater potential than meat alternatives, which is well covered.
It was great to have the opportunity to show how startups can succeed in the alt protein sector through the provision of funding and training at ProVeg headquarters in Berlin. We envisage many more companies coming through to take advantage of the Incubator scheme to latch onto this booming market.

The realisation that foodtech is a tech that involves physical products and has capacity constraints has been startling to some pure tech investors that arrived as a result of the hype. Climate tech funds are now entering the space and becoming more active, seeing food system transformation as a climate solution, as well as more strategic investors attracted by the value.

Most markets don't fully understand how quickly the average investor, Millennials and Gen-z are seeing their investment portfolio as being an extension of their own values. The environmental impact of animal agriculture, particularly when it comes to net zero, is completely overlooked, and especially Scope 3 emissions. We also note better managed companies, less tax avoidance, more diverse teams, in companies among companies that avoid the use of animals.

In terms of measuring animal suffering, egg, fish and chicken products are at the top of the list, whereas from an environmental standpoint, ruminants are higher, but this reflects that these animals have smaller bodies so the numbers are necessarily higher. Invertebrates like shrimp are even larger numbers in terms of lives and days of suffering.

The ESG risks that are most material to animal agriculture are greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and biodiversity loss, water use and scarcity, waste and pollution, antiobiotic resistance, animal welfare, working conditions, food safety and governance. The opportunity primarily relates to dietary transition, affordability, accessibility, economies of scale, better sourcing, greater sustainability, diversifying plant-based sources, recognising regional variations among consumers, and shifts in consumption towards fruits, vegetable and fibre and a reduction in protein consumption in some parts of the world.

From an investor's perspective it is important that relevant information is readily available and it is good to know that people are working in this area and data is available to support investors active in transition of the food sector.

Despite of the current economic downturn and the decreases we've seen in stock markets for some of the plant based brands it seems like the investor interest and dedication towards alt proteins just continues to rise.

Biomass fermentation and mycelium have the potentiality of lower [production] cost than any protein source.

We believe that the current slowdown in sales is due to the need for the (taste) technology to improve further, which we are confident will happen. As a result adaptation of plant based meats will grow and by 2035, they (plant based meats) will take a dominant market share of the protein market.

There is no one single protein solution. In the area of precision fermentation and cultivated meat, in some instances there is low likelihood of profitability. Also the investors in these sectors often lack food industry expertise and one might question their due diligence.

Outside taste and price, the key aspect for us is naturality - methyl cellulose is dead!

Affordability is one of our core propositions, products need to be versatile and diverse solutions are necessary.