Recent presentation by Jennifer Stojkovic, Founder of Women Vegan Summit as well as author of a book and general partner of an early stage venture capital fund, showed that VC deal activity in the foodtech sector seems to have slowed down in 2022 as compared to the preceding years. (see Chart 1.0)
The online presentation was made during The Future of Protein Production Summit which was held from 21 to 24 February.
Surprisingly, this negative trend corresponds closely to investment in food tech which also experienced a downturn in 2022. (see Chart 1.0 below)
Could alternative meat end up into just another food fad ? A product which rose fast in popularity and then consumers started to lose interest in the product due to high cost, or probably decide that the product is no better from the real meat products in terms of nutrition, taste and texture.
Or could the alternative meat trend correspond similarly to bubble tea, once considered a fad as it became popular for only a few years and then disappeared from the scene, and then eventually came back with a bigger permanent presence. The future is yet to be seen, but it depends on how the major players shape the industry in the future, while at the same time, also depend on what its competitors – the real meat players – future strategies are.
Meanwhile, the meat industry is rapidly expanding its production of beef, chicken and pork to meet the growing consumption in China and other parts of the world.
