
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.
Opportunity | Production platform | Solution category | Value chain segment | Technology sector | Maturity level |
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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… |
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Commercial Ecosystem | Investment | 2 – Early adoption | |
Guaranteed offtake contracts for products and ingredients
Guaranteed offtake agreements, where buyers commit to purchase a volume of product, can help secure loans for infrastructure and other high-cost projects. |
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Commercial Ecosystem | End Products Investment Production | End product formulation & manufacturing | 1 – Inception |
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,… |
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Ecosystem | Investment | ||
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… |
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Commercial | Investment Production | 2 – Early adoption | |
Infrastructure and equipment leasing fund
Infrastructure leasing for production and processing facilities as well as capital equipment would enable alternative protein companies to rapidly expand capacity without large upfront capital investments. Having leasing funds and… |
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Commercial | Investment Production Raw Materials, Ingredients, & Inputs | ||
Investor conference for LPs, funds of funds, corporate VCs, family offices, and money managers
Events targeted at promoting opportunities in alternative protein investment via specialized funds could facilitate and diversify investment. |
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Ecosystem | Investment | 1 – Inception | |
Options for factoring financing for alternative proteins
Increased access to factoring financing instruments would help alternative protein companies improve their cash conversion cycle. |
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Ecosystem | Investment | 1 – Inception | |
Expanding alternative protein accelerator programs
More alternative protein capacity—different geographies, expertise, and programming—is needed in the incubator and accelerator landscape to de-risk venture capital investment. |
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Commercial Ecosystem | Investment | 3 – Widespread proliferation | |
Expanding corporate investment capabilities within strategic industry partners
Corporations can build out venture capital arms—including building dedicated incubators and opening their facilities—to facilitate strategic partnerships. |
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Commercial Ecosystem | Investment | 2 – Early adoption | |
Deal flow and fundraising platform for investors beyond the impact investment community
Investment platforms are needed for deal flow and coordinating hand-offs from pre-seed (angels and accelerators), seed/early-stage, and growth/later-stage investors and acquirers. |
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Commercial Ecosystem | Investment | 1 – Inception |
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.