From Lab to Table: The Startup Founder Revolutionizing the Seafood Industry with Sandhya Sriram, Shiok Meats
What does it take to sell and execute on what feels like an impossible vision?
This, is the task of a stem-cell scientist turned founder who is tapping into the multi-billion opportunity to create lab-grown crustacean meat.
Under Dr. Sandhya Sriram's leadership, Shiok Meats today is the world’s first cultivated shellfish meat company, and Southeast Asia’s first cultivated seafood and meat company. The startup’s mission is to bring delicious, sustainable, and healthy seafood to your table, using the cellular agriculture technology to grow meat from stem cells instead of slaughtering animals.
Since its inception in 2018, they have grown from 2 to over 50 employees today, made a strategic acquisition themselves, raised over USD 30 Million dollars from big names from Y Combinator to Korean Conglomerate CJ’s Food Arm.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – Intro
02:37 – Crucible moments for Sandhya: losing her father at 15 years old bringing her to science
04:00 – A story of resilience, journalism as a pathway to entrepreneurship
05:58 – A stem-cell hamburger, a professor in Netherlands? Wait, what?
08:40 – 65% of the population now lives in Asia: the opportunity for seafood
09:43 – But, stem-cells? From pharma to food applications
13:00 – Nuts and bolts: the yoghurt starter for crustaceans
16:00 – Licensing as the next step
19:46 – The valley of death, always be closing
23:40 – But not a typical VC play
28:12 – “I was the most introverted person. It took a lot of work to be who I am”
34:17 – Billion Dollar Questions
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About Dr. Sandhya Sriram
ON TIME MAGAZINE: THE SCIENTIST LEADING THE PUSH TO BRING LAB-GROWN SEAFOOD TO YOUR PLATE
ON FORBES: IF THEY CAN EXECUTE AND BRING THEIR PRODUCT TO MARKET, IT COULD HELP PUT A DENT IN THE MASSIVE SHRIMP INDUSTRY
Dr. Sandhya Sriram is the Group CEO and Co-founder of Shiok Meats Pte. Ltd., Singapore, the first cultivated seafood & meat company in Southeast Asia and the first cultivated Crustacean company globally. With her at the helm, Shiok Meats has raised USD 30 Million in funding since its inception in 2018 from a global suite of investors – USA, Europe, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. Shiok Meats also acquired Gaia Foods, a cultivated red meat company headquartered in Singapore.
A stem cell biologist and scientist by training and education, a former business development professional, a serial entrepreneur, and a thought leader, Sandhya was recently named as part of the 2021 class of Bloomberg New Economy Catalysts and as one of Forbes Women in Tech. She is also an advisor and investor to trailblazing Food Tech start-ups and has spoken at leading industry conferences worldwide. A proud mother to a 9-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter, a conscious lifestyle blogger, and an avid traveler, Sandhya likes to call herself a productive juggler.
FOLLOW SANDHYA:
Sandhya's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyasriram/
Sandhya's Twitter: https://twitter.com/sriramt_sandhya
More about Shiok Meats: https://shiokmeats.com/
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