With over 20 years of experience in impact investing and social enterprise, Albert Tseng is passionate about utilising business to solve some of society’s most pressing problems. Now, Albert is the co-founder of Dao Foods, an impact-oriented investment firm focused on supporting and accelerating plant-based and alternative protein companies in China. In this week’s episode we discuss the historical, current and future market potential of China, as well as the potential global impact. We also delve deeper into some of the startups leading the way, Dao Foods’ mission and approach, the government’s attitude towards the industry plus more. Blog: Change in China Our website: Vegan Startup Click here to subscribe on Android or Apple iTunes   Get in touch on socials @veganstartuppod or by email hello@veganstartuppod.com

Vegan Startup

Change in China - Dao Foods

When she was in her teens, Shannon Falconer decided to stop eating animals for welfare reasons. Now, the former Stanford microbiologist has found an opportunity to use her scientific training to take animals out of the supply chain altogether, focusing on the cultivation of meat for pets through her startup Because, Animals. In this week’s episode we chat further with Shannon about the impact of the pet food industry and why it’s an important sector to tackle. We discuss the startup’s approach to product development, how they’ve gone about developing serum-free media, plus more. Blog: Cultured Cat Food Our website: Vegan Startup Click here to subscribe on Android or Apple iTunes   Get in touch on socials @veganstartuppod or by email hello@veganstartuppod.com

Cultured Cat Food - Because, Animals

With a background in material science and engineering, Michelle Wolf always wanted to use her technical skillset to help make the world a better place. Being inspired by plant-based beef alternatives gaining traction in the mainstream, she began to learn more about other industries and realised that despite the opportunity, nobody was really looking at seafood. Fast forward to now and Michelle is the co-founder of plant-based seafood company New Wave Foods who aim to protect our oceans, starting with sustainable shrimp. In this week’s episode we delve deeper into the company’s mission, as well as their unique ingredients and how these compare to other options on the market. We also discuss New Wave’s food service focus, their recently announced partnership with Dot foods, plus more. Blog: Shrimp from Seaweed Our website: Vegan Startup Click here to subscribe on Android or Apple iTunes   Get in touch on socials @veganstartuppod or by email hello@veganstartuppod.com

Shrimp from Seaweed - New Wave Foods

As a mechanical engineer, Andre Menezes never imagined that he would be working in the food industry. Nonetheless after a career as the manager of Singapore’s largest distribution company, Andre joined the plant-based space through the co-founding of Nextgen Foods - parent company of plant-based chicken brand TiNDLE. In this week’s episode we chat with Andre about why Nextgen have decided to tackle chicken, as well as their unique business model to facilitate rapid expansion. We also discuss Andre’s personal thoughts about why there has been less innovation when it comes to chicken as a category, the challenges of launching in a pandemic plus more. Blog: Championing Chicken Our website: Vegan Startup Click here to subscribe on Android or Apple iTunes   Get in touch on socials @veganstartuppod or by email hello@veganstartuppod.com

Championing Chicken - Nextgen Foods

When Maggie began sharing her vegan food finds online, she had no idea that what started as a free time blog would soon turn into a nation-wide vegan media company. In this week’s episode we chat to the VegOut Magazine founder about the journey so far, and what it was like making the transition out of the corporate world and into that of entrepreneurship. We also spoke about what Maggie believed was the driver of VegOut’s initial growth and their bottom-up approach to expansion, as well as the future of print plus more. Blog: Plant-based Press Our website: Vegan Startup Click here to subscribe on Android or Apple iTunes   Get in touch on socials @veganstartuppod or by email hello@veganstartuppod.com

Plant-based Press - VegOut Magazine

Despite always being interested in entrepreneurship, it wasn’t until a trip to Thailand that CEO and co-founder Daphne Hedley stumbled upon the right idea and Mekhala Living was born. 1600 stores and 6 countries later, we chat to Daphne about the journey of starting the certified vegan and organic Asian condiment business. We also discuss the process of getting a factory up and off the ground, the brand’s approach to expansion and distribution, their social commitment and some of the biggest challenges in the journey so far. Blog: Conscious Condiments Our website: Vegan Startup Click here to subscribe on Android or Apple iTunes   Get in touch on socials @veganstartuppod or by email hello@veganstartuppod.com

Conscious Condiments - Mekhala Living

When his son was one, former Gold Coast Titans player and serial-entrepreneur Selasi Berdie went looking for an exclusively plant-based infant formula. To his shock however, he found that there wasn’t an existing product on the market, leading him on a journey to creating a world first through his startup Sprout Organic. In this week’s episode Simon talks with Sel about the founding journey and the process of getting a new idea up and off the ground. Sel also shares about the industry’s strict regulatory frameworks and how him and his partner have gone about building a brand consumers can know and trust. Blog: Friendlier Formula Our website: Vegan Startup Click here to subscribe on Android or Apple iTunes   Get in touch on socials @veganstartuppod or by email hello@veganstartuppod.com

Friendlier Formula - Sprout Organic

At the age of 20, Kartik Dixit realised how much the food system was contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and became vegan overnight. What shocked him most of all however, was that nobody was working on tackling alternative protein in India. Starting with cell-based meat and then transitioning to the plant-based sector, Kartik is now working on evolving egg through his venture Evo foods. In this week’s episode we chat with Kartik about the different layers of vegetarianism in India, and why him and his team chose to develop a plant-based egg product. We also talk about product development, finding a manufacturing partner, future expansion and what a day in the life looks like for the CEO and co-founder. Blog: Egg Evolution Our website: Vegan Startup Click here to subscribe on Android or Apple iTunes   Get in touch on socials @veganstartuppod or by email hello@veganstartuppod.com

Egg Evolution - Evo Foods

Will this little vegan startup end up changing the world? Let's find out together! This podcast takes you behind the scenes of Bite Society, a mission-driven vegan food startup I'm attempting to build from scratch. I'll be sharing *everything* on this wild ride so come join me... (no seriously, please join me. I need the moral support) Simon, Founder, Bite Society simon@bitesociety.com ps - "go deeper neo..." If you like the podcast, and want more, check out the blog and newsletter at bitesociety.com . Also if you have any way you can help the "society" out pls do get in touch!