The nascent but growing smart protein industry – plant-based, fermentation and cultivated technologies – has been launched by venture capital over the past 10 years but will be hard-pressed to scale without alternative sources of capital. To produce vast amounts of alt proteins that would make any significant difference and contribution to our overall protein production with volume and scale, the industry will require hundreds of thousands of tons of capacity over the coming years which, in turn, will require billions of dollars in new infrastructure investments. For the industry to scale to relevance, multiple sources of capital and differentiated risk profiles beyond venture capital will be required to deliver the true impact we are all driving for – a cleaner healthier environment with lower GHG emissions and alternatives to our animal protein-centric diet at scale. This panel will investigate some of the innovative financing mechanisms to fund the future of alternative proteins.

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