Alternative Protein Solutions Database
Discover ideas for new startups, commercial ventures and products, research projects, ecosystem support, and investment opportunities for plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived proteins.
Additional Filters
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
| Opportunity | Production platform | Value chain segment | Technology sector | End product focus | Relevant actor | Maturity level | Solution category | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
B2B media development company
The cultivated meat industry needs dedicated suppliers of low-cost, food-grade cell culture media to reduce cultivated meat production costs. Close collaboration between the customer and supplier will be required in… |
Cultivated
|
R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Cell culture media | Seafood-relevant | Industry Investors Startups | Commercial Research | ||
|
Animal-free, non-recombinant albumin and transferrin for cultivated meat
The identification of non-animal, non-recombinant proteins with similar functionality to serum albumin and transferrin will lead to major cost reductions in cell culture media development, facilitating progress toward achieving price… |
Cultivated
Plant-Based
|
Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Cell culture media Crop development Target molecule selection | Species-agnostic | Academics Industry Investors Startups | Commercial Research | Industry Science | |
|
Animal ingredient substitution
Enabling easy animal ingredient substitutions in a wide range of food products. |
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
End Products R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | End product formulation & manufacturing Ingredient optimization | Species-agnostic | Academics Industry Investors NGO’s Startups | Commercial Research | Industry Science | |
|
Metabolic modeling for cultivated meat
Academic researchers or consortia consisting of several cultivated meat companies should undertake research aimed at understanding metabolic pathways and fluxes within cultivated meat-relevant cell types. The outputs of this research… |
Cultivated
|
R&D | Bioprocess design Cell culture media Cell line development | Seafood-relevant | Academics Industry Investors Startups | Research | Science | |
|
Affordable animal-free omega-3 ingredients for alternative seafood and other alternative protein applications
In order to appeal to health-conscious consumers, alternative seafood products should contain similar omega-3 fatty acids, especially DHA and EPA, content to conventional seafood. Animal-free omega-3 ingredients can be expensive… |
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
Investment Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Bioprocess design Crop development Host strain development Ingredient optimization Target molecule selection | Seafood | Industry Investors Startups | Commercial | Industry | |
|
Preventing oxidation of omega-3 fatty acids before and after addition to alternative seafood products
Deeper fundamental knowledge of the causes and prevention of oxidation of omega-3 fatty acids before, during, and after addition to alternative seafood products is needed to improve their nutritional and… |
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
End Products Investment Production R&D Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | Bioprocess design Crop development End product formulation & manufacturing Host strain development Ingredient optimization Target molecule selection | Seafood | Academics Industry Investors Startups | Research | Industry Science | |
|
Coordination among investors with alternative protein industry-specific expertise
Investors specializing in alternative proteins should be leveraged to educate the broader investment community through coalitions, syndicated deals, and co-investments with industry-agnostic investors, and spearhead efforts to facilitate later-stage funding… |
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
Investment | Species-agnostic | GFI Investors Startups | 2 – Early adoption | Commercial Ecosystem | Industry | |
|
Next-generation plant-based turkey products
There has been little in the way of publicly-announced R&D or commercial efforts to develop the next generation of tasty and affordable plant-based turkey products. There is room for innovation… |
Plant-Based
|
End Products | End product formulation & manufacturing | Terrestrial-specific | Industry Investors Startups | 1 – Inception | Commercial | Industry |
|
Platform for facilitating matchmaking between funders and funding-seekers
It can be challenging and time-intensive for startups and researchers to find funders that are interested in their technology area, technological maturity level, fundraising stage, location, type of funding sought,… |
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
Investment | Species-agnostic | GFI Investors | Ecosystem | Industry | ||
|
Infrastructure loan fund
The success of early-days products has demonstrated strong consumer interest, but investment is needed to enable alternative protein supply chain companies to build out the infrastructure needed to capitalize on… |
Cultivated
Fermentation
Plant-Based
|
Investment Production | Species-agnostic | Industry Investors | 2 – Early adoption | Commercial | Industry |
Get involved
If you’d like to fund a research project, work on any of these solutions, share information about related efforts that are already underway, or elevate new ideas for advancing the alternative protein industry, we’d love to hear from you!
Explore key innovation priorities
Review commercial whitespaces, research gaps, technological needs, and investment priorities at each stage of the alternative protein value chain.
How we built this
Full report
Delve into the full report on the motivation, methodology, rationale, and key findings and recommendations of the Solutions initiative.
Futures wheels analysis
Explore our framework for uncovering second-order or third-order consequences and implications of hypothetical future scenarios to support better decision-making in the present.
Future-proofing
Discover key findings from GFI’s premortem analysis of potential threats to the widespread adoption of alternative proteins, including strategies to avoid or mitigate the most pressing risks.