Australian ingredients company Wide Open Agriculture (WOA) has signed a non-binding framework agreement with plant protein producer Proeon Foods for contract manufacturing of its lupin-based ingredients.

Proeon was chosen by WOA due to its manufacturing footprint and expertise in developing, manufacturing and marketing functional plant protein isolate ingredients sourced from mung bean and peanut.

It was founded in 2018 and specialises in next-generation plant protein solutions, headquartered at the Delft Biotech Campus in the Netherlands with production operations in Pune, India.

Proeon supplies food and beverage brands across Europe, North America and Southeast Asia. Its production facility in India aligns with WOA’s intention to secure an Asia-based manufacturing and marketing partner to reduce production costs.

The agreement protects WOA’s intellectual property (IP) and sets out principles for a future contract manufacturing deal covering WOA’s lupin-based ingredients. It follows a period of mutual due diligence undertaken by both parties under NDA, WOA said.

The deal forms part of WOA’s ambitions to shift to a lower-cost, capital-light contract manufacturing model and improve production economics.

It also grants Proeon exclusive rights to distribute WOA’s lupin products in India, conditional on WOA’s approval of commercial production. WOA is not required to commit to minimum order volumes or exclusivity with Proeon and said it continues to progress discussions with additional prospective partners.

Craig Swan, CEO of WOA, said: “With our intellectual property protected, we can now start working closely with Proeon, jointly progressing technical and commercial objectives, running trials, and building the kind of understanding that only comes from working together.”

Kevin Parekh, founder of Proeon Foods, added: “We've long admired what WOA has built with lupin protein. It's a genuinely underused crop, and WOA's technology is some of the most interesting we've seen in the plant protein space.”

“Signing this term sheet lets us start working closely together, sharing information and exploring what a manufacturing and marketing partnership with WOA could look like, and we're looking forward to seeing where that leads.”

Top image: © Wide Open Agriculture