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How two Cornell scientists from Taiwan discovered the secret sauce of vegan meat -- and won IndieBio funding
Two Taiwanese doctors from Cornell University, Jen-Yu Huang and Michelle Lee, saw the trend of plant-based meat and became the first-ever to use the encapsulation technique to produce “alternative fat”, which enable plant meat to taste like real meat. They established Lypid and got selected into global accelerator IndieBio, and plan for mass production next year.
Vegetarian diets have been gaining popularity globally. While more and more people are adopting vegetarian eating habits, one can now order a vegetarian burger from Beyond Meat and Impossible, and more! Famous fast food brands like Carl’s Jr., Del Taco, White Castle, and Quiznos are also serving vegetarian meals, as other big names like McDonald’s and Taco Bell are getting ready to step into the plant-based meat world, too.
Plant-based market is booming, but plant-based meat … tastes very bland
Research suggests that the global plant-based meat market size was approximately USD 3.3 billion in 2019, which is estimated to soar to USD 13.8 billion in 2027, by 19.4 CARG within seven years. Plant-based products are also winning favors from both consumers and investors. Investors had poured dollars into the alternative protein in the first half of 2021, seeing over more than 350% of funding as the entirety of 2020. Startups that focus on improving the mouthfeel for dairy alternatives such as milk, cheese and eggs have also drawn large investments.
However, to fully replace real meat, there has always been a major flaw for vegetarian meat -- It just doesn’t taste as good!
Texture and flavor are what distinguish meat from plants mostly. Due to that muscle tissues are highly flexible and plant cells are rigid, real meat tastes buttery and chewy while vegetarian meat can taste powdery or sloppy. In order to solve the problem, a person who is both an entrepreneur and a scientist studied the reason behind this. It turned out that “fat” is the essence of mouthfeel and taste, and that is why Dr.Jen-Yu Huang asked his schoolmate Dr.Michelle Lee to found the vegan fat startup Lypid.
Scientists with entrepreneurial spirit funded by IndieBio
Although being a Ph.D. student at Cornell, Jen-Yu’s entrepreneurial talent shines way before he went to the US. “I have always been exploring opportunities in the market and ways to commercialize different cutting-edge technology. Frankly speaking, one of the reasons for coming to the US is that I want to start my own business,” said Jen-Yu. When he was an undergraduate student in Taiwan, Jen-Yu founded “Readmix”, which successfully promoted the businesses of independent bookstores. His next startup “Clipo” was even chosen to enter Plug & Play Accelerator in Sunnyvale.
As time went by, he started to discover more and more innovative business ideas. However, not having sufficient professional knowledge, he found out that he wasn’t well-equipped enough with scientific and technological knowledge to evaluate the quality of those ideas. Therefore, he decided to pursue a Ph.D. degree at Cornell University to consolidate his knowledge, a decision which led to meeting his business co-founder, Michelle Lee.
“Before graduation, I was contemplating my future. Since I have mastered some top technical skills, why not go out there and give it a shot?” Michelle said when recalling the time Jen-Yu asked her to start a company. Michelle masters food science and is an expert at encapsulation, a technique related to putting materials like food ingredients or enzymes in small capsules. The two clicked shortly. As a result, two Taiwanese Cornell Ph.D. students, one with an entrepreneurial mindset, the other with remarkable technical skills, both with hands-on experiences, embarked on their journey at Lypid in 2020.
Due to the great potential of Lypid’s technique and business idea, Lypid was informed to be selected into IndieBio, the largest biotech startup accelerator run by Global VC firm SOSV, within a week. Aside from the funds and equipment IndieBio provided, the network and mindset IndieBio offered were irreplaceable. “One of the best help IndieBio brings to us is the change of mindset, from scientists to entrepreneurs,” Jen-Yu stated. This has helped them to include more perspectives, from technical aspects to market needs. “They also offer valuable and various connections. We have met with more than a hundred companies and investors. “The people from IndieBio try everything they can to help Lypid grows,” Jen-Yu added.
The key to rich and juicy vegan meat? Water.
Food scientists around the world are all looking for the best formula to mimic real meat. It is yet to be found -- until Lypid found the secret sauce of alternative fat -- water.
Traditionally, animal fat is replaced by plant-based oil, such as coconut oil, canola, and sunflower oils. However, their melting point is very low, resulting in the fat melting in the pans and a greasy plant-smelled piece of vegan meat. Other scientists have tried to use cultivated animal fat, yet it clearly does not fit strict vegan diets. Now, here comes the breakthrough of Lypid: the encapsulation technique.
Michelle’s specialty, the encapsulation technique, added with some special processing technology and formulation, allows liquid vegan oils to stand up to 165 degrees Celsius and contains more water components. With the fat still sticking onto the meat, the sense of creaminess, chewiness and juiciness is preserved. “If you look into animal fat, it’s not just lipid. It contains water, too. If you are always trying to imitate ‘fat’, the direction is wrong and it will never taste like ‘real fat.’” Jen-Yu explained.
Upstream provider for now, food manufacturer for the future
Lypid now adopts a B2B business model, namely that they sell their plant-based fat caters to plant-based meat providers. They have been in contact with more than ten companies so far and plan for mass production next year. Nevertheless, they also aim to develop and sell their own products, like vegan bacon, in the future. Their main target market will be the US market while Taiwan is their potential market.
“Taiwan has actually been making very tasty vegan meat. It’s just that no one is seeing it as a real industry,” Jen-Yu mentioned. This being one of the reasons, they have recently founded a lab in Taiwan and are now recruiting.
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