Alternative Food Tech Intake Secures 13.5 Billion Won Investment

Alternative food tech company Intake announced on the 1st that it has completed a Series C investment round worth 13.5 billion KRW.

The seven institutions participating in this investment round include HB Investment, CJ Investment, Woori Venture Partners, KDB San-eun Capital, J-Curve Investment, Wonik Investment Partners, and Industrial Bank of Korea.

Kim Hyun-gyu, Senior Investment Officer at CJ Investment, explained the reason for the investment, saying, “As consumers' interest in healthy eating habits increases, industry interest in advancing alternative food-related technologies is rapidly growing. Intake is expected to grow into a key company in the alternative food sector, thanks to the successful development and commercialization of core patented technologies for alternative food materials led by founders from Seoul National University’s Food Engineering department.”

Founded in 2013, Intake is an alternative food food tech startup focusing on alternative food B2C business and alternative protein B2B business. In 2024, it recorded sales of approximately 22.4 billion KRW, showing an annual sales growth rate of about 30%. Last year, it was also selected as the lead institution for a national research project on alternative seaweed meat worth about 6 billion KRW.

Intake plans to use the new investment funds for research and development and global infrastructure expansion to expand its microorganism-based alternative protein business currently underway.

The core of the third-generation protein material, precision fermentation-based yeast cultivation technology, enables mass production regardless of climate conditions, attracting attention as a new alternative for human protein supply. Intake is accelerating investment in technology development by producing primary protein powders that serve as the base for secondary alternative proteins such as alternative meat, alternative eggs, and alternative milk using this technology.

Intake developed a super protein yeast strain with more than 1.5 times the protein content of regular yeast by identifying and isolating GRAS yeast from domestically grown grapes and improving it through an eco-friendly method (adaptive evolution). This strain is currently in the early stages of commercialization. The yeast protein material developed to fundamentally replace existing whey protein targets the global protein market worth approximately 35 trillion KRW, with plans to enter the North American market starting in 2026.

Han Nok-yeop, CEO of Intake, said, “This Series C investment is proof that Intake’s alternative food technologies and products are gaining trust from consumers and the market,” adding, “With this investment, our goal is to complete the development of core technologies that can make microorganism-based alternative foods a new alternative in the existing food industry.”