Private funding for alternative food is eye-popping, to say the least. “Buzzy” is a good descriptor :)
I hesitate to make any proclamations on what’s too much or too little, as it does depend on the counterfactual. I think the problems that Beyond Meat are trying to solve are worthwhile. Giving them cheaper capital helps their efforts. Glad it’s going there versus, say, Palantir.
I spent Chapter 9 discussing specific funding opportunities, but I thought of a couple of ones since the book went to the presses:
Fundamental characterization of casein and casein micelles. Casein micelles impart the desired properties of cheese: the meltability, stretchiness, as well as the ability to form cheese curds. Much about casein biochemistry is just unknown: how do the different casein molecules form into the casein micelles? What are the caseins and micelles doing during the stretch process? These are questions that can be answered by academic efforts with modest funding (millions).
How should we tackle agriculture subsidies? In Chapter 10, I write about how intricate and interconnected the subsidies are. The tangled web makes it hard to know where even to start. Do we go for something big like crop insurances? Or something more tractable such as lobbying to exclude animal agriculture from the EQIP program, which helps them save money by getting funding for environmental compliance. (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/eqip/) If we could pay for a team to sit down and calculate all this, then I think that would pay dividends. It’s boring and unsexy, but, man, it would be so impactful.
The for profit alternative protein space seems buzzy.
For example, after it’s IPO, Beyond Meat raised an secondary round, so investors and founders could pickup prices from a valuation almost 10x more than the asking price (literally the best IPO for any large company since the 2000 dot.com).
Does the above characterization of ample funding seem accurate for many other promising plant based food startups?
If partially true, what are the best opportunities for EA or non-profit funding for alternative proteins today?
Private funding for alternative food is eye-popping, to say the least. “Buzzy” is a good descriptor :)
I hesitate to make any proclamations on what’s too much or too little, as it does depend on the counterfactual. I think the problems that Beyond Meat are trying to solve are worthwhile. Giving them cheaper capital helps their efforts. Glad it’s going there versus, say, Palantir.
I spent Chapter 9 discussing specific funding opportunities, but I thought of a couple of ones since the book went to the presses:
Fundamental characterization of casein and casein micelles. Casein micelles impart the desired properties of cheese: the meltability, stretchiness, as well as the ability to form cheese curds. Much about casein biochemistry is just unknown: how do the different casein molecules form into the casein micelles? What are the caseins and micelles doing during the stretch process? These are questions that can be answered by academic efforts with modest funding (millions).
How should we tackle agriculture subsidies? In Chapter 10, I write about how intricate and interconnected the subsidies are. The tangled web makes it hard to know where even to start. Do we go for something big like crop insurances? Or something more tractable such as lobbying to exclude animal agriculture from the EQIP program, which helps them save money by getting funding for environmental compliance. (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/eqip/)
If we could pay for a team to sit down and calculate all this, then I think that would pay dividends. It’s boring and unsexy, but, man, it would be so impactful.