Shunning mainland China, Taiwan pushes start-ups to explore US, Southeast Asia
- With the future of cross-strait relations uncertain, the Taiwan government is nudging start-ups to look for new business outside mainland China
- The island’s status as a tech hub and cultural ties with Southeast Asia make the region a natural choice, and the United States is also fertile ground
Huang Jen-yu, the 30-year-old co-founder and CEO of a Taiwanese start-up, is hoping his product is one the entire world will want to sink its teeth into.
His firm, Lypid, makes meat substitutes from soy beans and canola. It uses a fluid dynamics process to ensure a taste as salty, juicy and fatty as the real thing.
The year-old business already counts a 500-outlet coffeehouse chain in Taiwan as its biggest client, but with just 24 million people, the island remains a relatively small market.
The more people we can influence, the better
Lypid’s next stop is Thailand, where a food conglomerate intends to distribute the start-up’s foods. Vietnam will come after that, Huang said, owing to local vegetarian tastes, and Malaysia may follow because its largely Muslim population shuns pork.
The firm has received approval from a Taiwan government start-up support agency to join trade shows abroad, including in the US, to explore new markets.