Varun Deshpande grew up in Mumbai, India, and has a background in healthcare and technology startups. He established and led Good Food Institute (GFI) India for 4 years before moving into an Asia-wide role leading teams in India, Singapore, Japan, and Korea, as well as partner organizations across the continent. At GFI, Varun aims to build the smart protein sector from the ground up across science, business, and policy. He believes that nourishing 10 billion people by 2050, requires to stave off climate change, food insecurity, and public health risks like pandemics – and plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived meat, egg, and dairy products that taste the same or better and cost the same or less than their animal-sources counterparts was the best way to do so. Varun is also a leader in the effective altruism community and has been named one of India’s leading climate voices (India Climate Collaborative) and 25 Most Influential Young Citizens (GQ Magazine).