Media OutReach<\/a>\u00a0– 18 August 2021 – Plant-based
\nfood-tech company Shandi has closed its second seed round led by
\nSingapore-headquartered Tolaram \u2013 one of Africa’s largest packaged food
\ncompanies. Other investors in this round include Australia based food-tech
\naccelerator SparkLabs Cultiv8, and former CEO-India for Louis Dreyfus and
\nprominent angel investor Simmarpal Singh.<\/p>\n
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The fresh funding that raised more than USD700,000 will be used to
\nset up a manufacturing facility in Singapore to commercialise and scale
\nShandi’s proprietary plant-based chicken products, including expanding
\npartnerships in the food sector. While Shandi has successfully produced chicken
\nanalogues in various formats such as pieces, shreds, strips and drumsticks,
\npart of the proceeds would be allocated to further product innovation and
\ndevelopment on new textures, formats, and other meat analogues.<\/p>\n
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Shandi was founded in 2019 by food industry expert, research veteran
\nand lifelong vegetarian Dr Reena Sharma. The food-tech company uses a unique
\nprocess to develop and manufacture their plant-based chicken, which is made
\nonly with natural, non-GMO ingredients such as pea protein, chickpeas, quinoa,
\nflax seeds, brown rice, and coconut oil, and is free from artificial
\nflavourings and other additives.<\/p>\n
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“We’re thrilled to bring on board a variety of strategic investors,
\nfrom a large food corporation to a sector-specific venture capital firm as well
\nas an angel investor. This represents a strong validation of our technology and
\nproduct, and we look forward to working with our investors to move to the next phase
\nand bring our products to market. With its strong logistics and supply chain,
\nforward-looking regulatory framework and supportive government initiatives,
\nSingapore is well positioned to host our first commercial plant and we’re delighted
\nto be setting up here,” said Dr Reena Sharma, Founder and CEO at Shandi.<\/p>\n
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This round of funding also represents Tolaram’s first investment in
\nthe alternative protein category. Tolaram is a Singapore enterprise with
\nbusiness interests across consumer products, fintech and infrastructure. It
\noperates 23 manufacturing facilities in Africa and leverages its deep
\ndistribution network to bring essential consumer goods to half a billion people
\nin the region.<\/p>\n
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Said Deepak Singhal, MD of Consumer Products at Tolaram: “We
\ncontinue to see strong growth in the alternative protein category, especially
\nwhen more affordable options become available for emerging markets. We believe
\nthat Shandi could be a game-changer as they have created a chicken substitute
\nthat not only tastes and behaves like the animal meat but is also priced at par
\nwith it. We are excited to help them go-to-market and grow, utilizing our
\nresources, network, and experience in building consumer brands from the ground
\nup.”<\/p>\n
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Bernice Tay, Director of Food Manufacturing, Enterprise Singapore
\nadded “We are excited to see Tolaram partner Shandi to introduce a new variety
\nof plant-based chicken to the market. Such partnerships between established
\nfood companies and emerging food tech startups invigorate the local alternative
\nprotein ecosystem and provide greater variety and offerings for consumers. We
\nhope to encourage more of such collaborations going forward.”<\/p>\n
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Shandi’s patent-pending production process involves isolating
\nspecific amino acids from plants to emulate the amino acid profile found in
\nchicken. This results in an end-product that is like chicken not only in its
\nnutritional composition, but also in the way the animal-meat releases certain
\nmolecules (called pre-cursors) during the cooking process. This is a paramount
\nand often overlooked element in designing a meat alternative as many
\nmanufacturers add artificial flavours that die or do not react during the
\ncooking process. By re-creating the taste using natural amino acids instead of
\nchemical additives, flavourings, and seasonings, Shandi is able to offer a
\nproduct that is tasty, nutritious, and versatile at a highly competitive price.<\/p>\n
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“We have seen 100’s of plant-based protein companies but this
\nis the first true meat alternative we have seen that overcomes the barriers
\ninhibiting current products in the market. Shandi’s product is low cost,
\nnutritional and can be cooked just like real meat in any application.”
\nsays Graham Bougen, Program Director, SparkLabs Cultiv8.<\/p>\n
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Shandi aims to launch its range of products to foodservice and food
\nmanufacturers in Q1 2022, with a B2C retail product to follow. <\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE –\u00a0Media OutReach\u00a0– 18 August 2021 – Plant-based
food-tech company Shandi has closed its second seed round led by
Singapore-headquartered Tolaram \u2013 one of Africa’s largest packaged food
companies. Other investors in this round include Australia based food-tech
accelerator SparkLabs Cultiv8, and former CEO-India for Louis Dreyfus and
prominent angel investor Simmarpal Singh.
…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}