Zikooin Company, a plant-based meat substitute manufacturer attracted investments totaling around USD 23 million.
Zikooin Company, a plant-based meat substitute manufacturer attracted investments totaling around USD 23 million.(28 billion Korean won)
Zikooin Company won follow-ons from Primer Sazze Partners, IMM Investment, A Ventures, and Envisioning Partners. KDB Bank, STIC Ventures, PremierPartners, and Crit Ventures are newly invested in the vegan food maker. KDB Bank invested 8 billion Korean won through its program to upgrade Korea’s industrial structure. The investment included 6 billion Korean won for building a new factory.
Zikooin Company produces plant-based meat products which have the texture, juiciness, taste, and smell of meat. It launched five varieties of meat alternatives—sliced meat, patty, minced meat, pulled barbeque, and meatballs. Their recently launched vegan cheddar cheese has put the company in a position to compete in the dairy substitute sector as well.
Zikooin Company collaborated with CU, one of the most popular convenience store chains in South Korea, to roll out a line of vegetarian products, and Zikooin has also collaborated with Domino’s Pizza to release a plant-based signature meat pizza and a plant-based meat Aglio e olio. The meat alternative brand’s export markets include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Vietnam, Australia, and the U.S. Its flagship sliced meat product won the Bronze Award at the Monde Selection 2020 and 3rd place at the 2021 Sial China Innovation Award, gaining widespread attention at international food product conventions.
Zikooin Company plans to have its Clean Meat Factory up and running by the first half of 2022. The plant-based meat factory’s will be a 8,910m2 facility built on 14,657m2 of land in Jecheon’s 3rd industrial complex, making it one of the largest plant-based meat factories in Asia.
CEO Min, Keum-chae of Zikooin Company said, “We have carried out a large-scale infrastructure investment in preparation for increasing our production capacity. The results will propel us to leadership of the alternative meat sector and enable us to expand our export market share.”
