Plant-based chicken maker Next Gen Foods raised US$20 million from investors including GGV Capital, Bits X Bites and food and beverage maker Yeo Hiap Seng to enter the US, the world’s biggest market for plant-based foods.

Existing backers including Temasek Holdings and K3 Ventures joined new investors including author Chris Yeh and football player Dele Alli in the startup’s extended seed round. The additional capital, which brought the entire seed round to US$30 million, valued the firm at almost US$180 million from about US$40 million in February, according to the company.

The Singapore-based startup plans to use the fresh capital to enter the US retail market in the next 12 months.

“The US market entry reflects our goal of becoming the world’s number-one plant-based chicken,” Andre Menezes, co-founder and former chief operating officer who was recently named chief executive officer.

Rohit Bhattacharya, who was previously director at Temasek, has joined the firm as chief financial officer, while former CEO Timo Recker became chairman.