Lawrence Chu, Partner Emeritus at Lever VC, began investing in alternative protein back in 2015 through family-office capital with Nick Cooney, years before it became a mainstream VC category, and was an early backer of companies like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats/UPSIDE, and JUST. Based in Hong Kong, he has also helped connect that investing thesis to Asia and China specifically, including supporting a China-focused fund and accelerator for plant-based meat startups with Brinc.
About their Fund
Lever VC is a venture fund that invests entirely in alternative protein and, more recently, broader food and agriculture technology, built by investors who backed companies like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and JUST before starting the fund; it draws roughly 70% of its early capital from Hong Kong and Asian family offices and runs a dedicated China-focused fund and accelerator with Brinc in Guangzhou. The firm tracks a database of more than 1,200 alternative protein companies worldwide, looks for startups that can serve both a large low-cost market and a smaller premium market as a backup, and has backed unusual projects like cultivated pork fat and fermentation-made pet food protein, while also publishing its own scientific benchmarks so investors can evaluate cultivated meat startups using detailed technical metrics.
















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