I’d be curious to hear others’ thoughts, too. Two of the funds in this post (The Navigation Fund and the EA Animal Welfare Fund) don’t invest in the alternative protein theory of change. Coefficient Giving does, and some of ACE’s recommended charities are involved in alternative proteins as well.
While I can’t speak for any of the funds, my understanding is that government funding is still making headway around the world, at around $500M in 2024 alone (for context, this is just an estimated 5% of public funding needed for alternative proteins to scale (more here, without an aggregated number for 2026 due to increasingly complicated tracking and categorization, but see the public investment database for more detail). For philanthropic dollars, we generally expect a ~5x ROI in terms of public funding secured per philanthropic dollar spent on advocacy.
With that said, I know other foundations directly support alternative protein R&D with philanthropic dollars, such as Novo Nordisk Foundation and Bezos Earth Fund. Not quite direct philanthropic investment in startups, though.
Hi Chad,
I’d be curious to hear others’ thoughts, too. Two of the funds in this post (The Navigation Fund and the EA Animal Welfare Fund) don’t invest in the alternative protein theory of change. Coefficient Giving does, and some of ACE’s recommended charities are involved in alternative proteins as well.
While I can’t speak for any of the funds, my understanding is that government funding is still making headway around the world, at around $500M in 2024 alone (for context, this is just an estimated 5% of public funding needed for alternative proteins to scale (more here, without an aggregated number for 2026 due to increasingly complicated tracking and categorization, but see the public investment database for more detail). For philanthropic dollars, we generally expect a ~5x ROI in terms of public funding secured per philanthropic dollar spent on advocacy.
With that said, I know other foundations directly support alternative protein R&D with philanthropic dollars, such as Novo Nordisk Foundation and Bezos Earth Fund. Not quite direct philanthropic investment in startups, though.