Swedish mycoprotein producer Mycorena has raised up to SEK 77 million ($9 million approx.) in a Pre-Series A funding round. Headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, the mycoprotein manufacturer claims to be one of the fastest-growing food tech start-ups in the country. Mycorena’s flagship ingredient, Promyc, is currently being tested as a protein ingredient in several commercial vegan products. The company’s latest funding round was led by Belgium-based Veos Group, a supplier of proteins and functional ingredients. The Pre-Series A raise was also backed by existing supporters, including Mycorena shareholders FBG Invest and Bånt, and several new investors. Mycorena will use the new capital to prepare for ‘rapid commercialisation’ through expansion of its team and research and development capabilities, as well as production scaleup. The company says that the funds will enable it to kickstart a planned project to construct a new production site in Falkenberg, Sweden. Mycorena claims that the plant will be Scandinavia’s first-of-its-kind facility for large-scale mycoprotein manufacturing. “Upscaling our product has been in our focus for this year and with the new funding, we will fast track our path to commercialisation of our technology and product,” said Ramkumar Nair, founder and CEO of Mycorena. Jörgen Hallgren of FBG Invest added: “Sustainable protein is the future of food production, and moving on to demonstrate its large-scale production will take the company much further in its growth.” #mycoprotein #Mycorena #plantprotein #Sweden

Plant-based deli meat start-up Plantcraft has announced that its two new vegan pâtés are available in US retail via the Los Angeles organic grocery chain Erewhon. With claims of being the first plant-based pâté on the commercial market, Plantcraft Pâté comes in both spicy and mild varieties. The all-natural pâté alternatives are made from green banana flour, golden flax seeds, grapeseed oil, legume-based protein and natural flavourings such as onion, garlic and cayenne pepper. The products are free from all the main allergens including nuts, gluten, soy, dairy, grains and eggs; as well as additives, preservatives and artificial ingredients. According to Plantcraft, its new vegan offerings deliver the smooth, rich texture of traditional pâté and a smoky, savoury taste. The brand also claims its pâté alternatives are a good source of protein, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. “Erewhon is known for bringing Los Angeles the latest innovations in nutrient-rich, pure products that are ethically and sustainably sourced,” said Plantcraft co-founder, Kati Ohens. “Their customers are aware of the impacts of their food choices and we believe they will appreciate that our pâté incorporates whole foods, not processed ingredients.” #plantbasedmeat #Plantcraft #US #vegan

Danone has signed an agreement to sell plant-based nutritional products brand Vega to funds managed by private equity investment firm, WM Partners. Available across the US and Canada, Vega’s offerings include options for sport and daily nutrition. The brand’s portfolio features products such as supplements, and protein bars, powders and snacks. According to Danone, the sale is part of the strategic review of its portfolio of brands, SKUs and assets. Danone announced the review process in its third-quarter 2020 results, saying that the company would start with an immediate examination of its options for Vega, its Argentina business and ‘possibly further assets’. The sale is also said to be part of the dairy giant’s ‘continuous capital allocation optimisation’. Jose Minski, co-founder of WM Partners, said: “We are excited to work with Vega, the pioneers and leaders of the plant-based nutrition industry and look forward to implementing our operational playbook to create additional value.” Patrick Brown, president of Vega, added: “We are looking forward to partnering with the WM Partners team to build on Vega’s existing strengths. Their extensive experience in the health and wellness sector and significant operational capabilities will help accelerate our long-term strategic plans and solidify the Vega brand as a key player in plant-based nutrition.” The closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. #NorthAmerica #Vega #sportsnutrition #Danone #plantbased #WMPartners

A European Union funding programme Horizon Europe has allocated €32 million into the research and development of sustainable proteins such as plant-based food, fermented proteins and cultivated meat. The €32 million funding package forms part of Horizon Europe’s larger €14.7 billion programme for a “healthier, greener and more digital Europe”, and marks the biggest funding package dedicated to supporting plant-based, cultivated meat and fermentation to date. Horizon Europe’s funding will see the running of three projects, which aim to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the aforementioned proteins, facilitate best-practice sharing between farmers and increase protein crop production. A budget of €11 million will be put towards “filling knowledge gaps on nutritional, safety, allergenicity and environment assessment of alternative proteins and dietary shift”. Meanwhile, €9 million will be used to develop sustainable and competitive land-based protein crop systems and value chains. Finally, €12 million will be invested into building alternative protein-friendly sustainable and healthy food environments – ensuring that restaurants and supermarkets offer sustainable and affordable protein options other than typical meat and dairy products. The programme report stated that the move is in line with the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy to transition to a healthy and resilient EU agriculture sector, in particular the goal of adopting EU-grown plant proteins. The funding package comes after the Good Food Institute Europe, ProVeg and 20 other organisations sent an open letter calling on the European Commission to invest in sustainable protein research and development. Acacia Smith, policy manager at the Good Food Institute Europe, said: “Horizon Europe’s funding for open-access research will spark real innovation in plant-based foods, cultivated meat and fermentation. By making these options more delicious and accessible, and ensuring farmers are part of the transition, this investment will accelerate Europe’s shift to a sustainable, secure and just food system. “It’s a strong signal that the EU is betting on sustainable proteins playing an important role in meeting its climate and biodiversity targets. National governments should take this as encouragement to invest in the research and infrastructure we need to advance plant-based and cultivated meat.” #fermentation #cultivatedmeat #sustainableprotein #plantbased #HorizonEurope #EuropeanCommission

Kestrel Foods-owned snack brand, Forest Feast, has announced the launch of its new range of Vegan 60% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Dipped Fruit. Featuring three varieties, the new line is gluten free and made with real chunks of ‘sustainably sourced’ fruit. The new 60% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Sour Cherries variant features ‘super-sour’ cherry pieces smothered in dark Belgian chocolate to create a sweet and sour contrast. Forest Feast’s 60% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Mango combines sweet and juicy dried mango strips with 60% cocoa Belgian dark chocolate. Meanwhile, the 60% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Mountain Figs offering features sun-dried figs covered in dark Belgian chocolate. Bronagh Clarke, marketing director at Forest Feast, said: “We have seen chocolate-dipped fruit gain huge traction in the US, and so it’s only a matter of time before it lands here in the UK in a big way – home-made options are already popping up all over Instagram and Pinterest.” Clarke continued: “We’re really excited to see this range land in stores. As the only 100% vegan and gluten-free option out there in dipped chocolate fruit, we’re going to really deliver for shoppers and hopefully in turn grow the category too.” With an RRP of £3.50, the new products are available from Waitrose. Last year, Forest Feast introduced a new chocolate-coated nuts range, as it aimed to tap into the growing market for premium and indulgent snacks. #ForestFeast #KestrelFoods #UK

The plant-based movement is on the rise with consumers turning to flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan diets because of animal welfare concerns, sustainability and perceived health benefits. To meet this rising demand, food and beverage manufacturers are accelerating their innovation activities to differentiate their offerings and deliver more enjoyable and tasty dairy alternatives that meet consumers nutritional requirements while also being sustainably produced. CanolaPRO® the next big plant protein CanolaPRO® is a highly soluble and functional protein isolate, derived from non-GMO canola (rapeseed) which can be used in a wide range of plant-based foods and beverages, including dairy alternatives, to deliver exceptional nutritional quality with a high digestibility score and a complete amino acid profile. In this webinar, Barbara Jacobs, application manager and Ben Rutten, business manager of milk drinks at DSM Food Specialties provide an introduction to CanolaPRO®, which will be commercially available in 2022, and the unique characteristics that set it apart from other proteins. Register for the webinar today to learn how to differentiate your products with this non-GMO, dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free and solvent-free plant-based protein. If you missed the event, which took place on Tuesday 15 June 2021 at 14:00, you can click here to register and watch the video. Alternatively, watch the free webinar here: #webinars #canola #Dairyalternatives #plantbased #DSM

Motif FoodWorks has secured $226 million in a Series B funding round, as it looks to bring transformative plant-based food technologies to market. With the capital, Motif FoodWorks plans to increase its research and development capabilities, scale and commercialise its food technologies, as well as open more facilities. By continuing its growth in these areas, the company aims to solve key sensory and nutritional challenges with existing plant-based foods, including meat and dairy alternatives. Originally spun out of Ginkgo Bioworks in 2019, Motif has raised a total of $345 million to date. The company recently secured licensing partnerships with the University of Guelph and Coasun for technologies that create melting and stretching characteristics in plant-based cheeses, and healthier fat alternatives that marbleise plant-based meats. “Plant-based foods have the potential to unlock enormous benefits for people and the planet, but that will only happen if they live up to, or even exceed, what consumers expect from animal-based counterparts,” said Jonathan McIntyre, CEO of Motif FoodWorks. He added: “With support from our investors, we’re advancing the understanding of food science and design to make plant-based foods better tasting, more nutritious and so desirable that people actually crave them.” The round was jointly led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board – through its Teachers’ Innovation Platform (TIP) – and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. Other participators in the round included AiiM Partners, Wittington Ventures, Rethink Food, Rage Capital and Rellevant Partners; as well as existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures, CPT Capital, General Atlantic, Louis Dreyfus Company and Viking Global Investors. Olivia Steedman, senior managing director of TIP, said: “Making plant-based foods taste great will increase the global appetite for this sector – and shape a better future for our planet in the process. As people increasingly look to meat and dairy alternatives, Motif offers breakthrough solutions powered by leading technology, deep scientific expertise and a visionary management team.” #MotifFoodWorks #US #Dairyalternatives #meatalternatives #plantbased

Creating high-quality plant-based milk alternatives that recreate the taste, nutrition and textural properties of dairy milk is a significant challenge for manufacturers. However, innovative production techniques and solutions such as vitamin premixes are helping to address these challenges and cement plant-based milks as true alternatives to their traditional counterpart. Prinova specialises in the production of premixes for a variety of applications, including plant-based milk. To discover how premixes can enable the creation of nutritious, great-tasting and high-quality milk alternatives, FoodBev spoke with Tony Gay, head of technical sales & NPD at Prinova and Ritzo Richie, global product manager for plant proteins at Prinova. What are the main manufacturing challenges associated with the creation of plant-based milks? How can these challenges be addressed? Tony Gay (TG): There are multiple challenges associated with the creation of plant-based milk. The first one would be around the assumption that you’re going to get the same benefits from plant-based milk as you would do from dairy milk, as that isn’t often the case. This is particularly apparent when you think of aspects like calcium content, as calcium is not going to be present in a lot of vegetable protein sources or vegetable origin sources. Often, you would need to fortify these products with some form of premix, that would actually put back in the calcium that you would assume you would get in milk, and also vitamin D alongside it, because it helps with the absorption of calcium too. Ritzo Richie (RR): You can use gellan gum in a plant-based drink to suspend calcium in the beverage. As Tony was referring to, a premix allows you to add in additional vitamins and/or minerals to create a complete product, and gellan gum has that function. What you very often see is that other hydrocolloids are used to give products the right consistency, the right mouthfeel. Another important point is that dairy is very neutral in taste, and some plant-based raw materials have stronger tastes. This can also be very challenging. Are these challenges more severe in some plant-based milk alternatives than others? Or are the challenges consistent across all types of plant-based milk? TG: There’s always a balance between health benefits and flavour and that can be quite tricky. It depends on the consumer and what they’re looking for. Some may be just looking for a milk alternative that they like in their coffee, or some might be looking for the health benefits the plant origin has given them. In terms of major challenges, quite often it’s not to do with the nutritional profile but to do with taste. From a premix point of view, I think the challenges are all very similar, because the premix is not really going to have any issues from a flavour perspective, and the suspension is down to what else you include in that formulation, so the gellan gum etc. So the premix wouldn’t be a challenge. RR: What’s important is the scope of the product you are producing. If you want to have a plant-based drink but want the taste to be as neutral as possible, you’re probably going to choose soy as a raw material. Soy is an allergen, so if you want an allergen-free product you’ll have to look at other solutions. And then what you’re going to see is that the colour, texture or taste might be different; so then that brings new challenges. How do Prinova’s solutions enable the creation of stable plant-based milk that tastes good, has strong nutritional values and a good texture/mouthfeel? TG: We see a trend towards using blends of different plant origin sources to achieve this. Blends provide a bit more of an overall nutritional benefit, providing benefits such as better protein scores, better digestibility, improved amino acid profile etc. You may utilise one plant source that provides some essential fats, but you put a proportion of that in there; it’s not the whole source of the plant origin. A producer may combine this with a source like fava bean as well. This overall combination of several sources together with a premix gives you health benefits across the board. RR: If you’re going to make a plant-based drink, you will have to suspend products, and there are not too many alternatives that, at the same time, keep the product sellable. What we try to do with the protein sources we offer, is that they’re all produced in a very natural way without adding process aids. This way, separation happens in a natural way, which is a big advantage if you’re looking at that from a clean label perspective. Is Prinova working with any new and innovative plant sources or developing any new solutions for the plant-based milk space? TG: We’re working with an ingredient called aquamin, which is a marine algae origin of calcium. We’re utilising that in premixes and because it’s plant origin, it’s suitable for plant-based products. Typically calcium carbonate is mined from the ground, so it does have an ecological impact to it. Customers who are looking to take that step further within the plant-based movement (in terms of sustainability) will find aquamin an interesting source to add to a premix. The other thing is vitamin D. There are two forms of vitamin D – D2 and D3 – and D3 is typically from an animal source. Looking for a vegan origin D3 for better absorption, better bioavailability, and putting that into premix is also going to be very interesting to lots of people producing plant-based milks, plant proteins or plant-based products generally. RR: What we are prioritising at this moment is good, sustainable and scalable solutions – looking into the alternatives to the common plant sources such as soy, pea and rice. Fava beans are an interesting source. Mung bean is challenging because it’s still being considered as a novel food, which is one of the legislative challenges so many of these new products face as well. What drives us is trying to find sources that offer suitable technical, taste or texture advantages, without becoming unaffordable at the retail stage. To find out more about Prinova and its solutions for applications such as plant-based milk, click here. #partnercontent #plantbasedmilk #Prinova #plantbased #premixes

US protein snacks brand Lenny & Larry’s has expanded into a new category with the introduction of a plant-based protein bar inspired by its signature cookies. The Complete Cookie-fied Bar is described as a soft, chewy bar topped with the brand’s signature cookie pieces and comes in two flavours: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Almond Sea Salt. A third Cookies & Crème flavour will launch in the autumn. Each gluten-free bar features 12g of plant-based protein, 6g of sugar and 5g of prebiotic fibre. The Complete Cookie-fied Bar marks the brand’s entry into the protein bar category and joins Lenny & Larry’s portfolio of cookie products including The Complete Cookie, The Complete Crunchy Cookies, The Keto Cookie and The BOSS! Cookie. “As the originators of the protein cookie, we see many things with cookie eyes, and we saw the bar category needed something more unique,” said Lenny & Larry’s CEO, Jolie Weber. “Lenny & Larry’s fans love our cookies for their delicious flavour and more nutritious profile, so now we’re bringing them a cookie in a bar. Just as important, it’s on-trend with consumer desires for plant-based protein and lower sugar.” The Chocolate Almond Sea Salt and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Complete Cookie-fied Bars are available now online and at 7-Eleven stores, with a further roll out planned nationwide. Each bar has an RRP of $1.99. #LennyampLarrys #plantbasedsnacks #proteinbars #US

Simulate has raised $50 million in Series B funding, as it looks to accelerate the growth and product development of its Nuggs plant-based chicken brand. Software-enabled venture firm Seven Seven Six led by the round and was joined by Chris & Crystal Sacca, Imaginary Ventures, Day One Ventures and previous investors Nomo Ventures and McCain Foods. Simulate’s first product Nuggs (formerly the start-up’s name prior to a rebrand last year) is a chicken nugget simulation made from texturised pea protein, which launched back in summer 2019. The product is now available at more than 5,000 retail locations including Walmart, Target and Whole Foods Market and the company says it is adding an additional 10,000 retail locations by the end of this year. Simulate has since expanded its line-up to also include Spicy Nuggs and Discs (plant-based chicken patties). The New York-based company plans to use the funding to triple its internal team, accelerate the development of new products and technologies, as well as scale its manufacturing capabilities. In addition to increasing its retail and foodservice presence, Simulate also intends to use the capital to continue its expansion into international markets. Most recently, the brand launched into Canada. “Historically our food system has rejected the use of technology, resulting in a system that is highly inefficient and primitive,” said Ben Pasternak, Simulate co-founder and CEO. “This new funding will be used to create and protect the intersection of technology and nutrition.” Following the round, Alexis Ohanian, founder of Seven Seven Six, joined Simulate’s board of directors. He said: “Ben, Sam, and the entire team’s commitment to rapid product iteration and building products that can infinitely scale is why we’re backing Simulate. The best technology companies that I’ve invested in over the past decade have operated with similar principles, and we’re excited to see Simulate grow into one of the highest impact nutrition companies on the planet.” #meatalternatives #Nuggs #Simulate #US

Quorn Foods has introduced new ready-to-eat bites with a sweet chilli sauce filling, as it looks to expand its meat-free snack options for picnics. Quorn Sweet Chilli Bites are made with the brand’s flagship mycoprotein and are said to be high in protein and fibre and low in saturated fat. The bite-sized snacks join Quorn’s range of meat-free products that can be enjoyed as part of picnics, BBQs and summer mealtimes, including Deli Ham and Deli Chicken slices, Cocktail Sausages, Picnic Eggs and Sausage rolls. Gill Riley, Quorn marketing director, said: “With more Brits looking to enjoy summer holidays at home this year, picnics are set to be hugely popular whether in the garden, at the beach or over the local park. “We wanted to make sure there were plenty of meat free options available this summer and the new Sweet Chilli Bites are simply delicious; no picnic would be complete without them.” Quorn Sweet Chilli Bites are available from the chilled meat-free aisle in stores at Tesco and via Ocado for an RRP of £2.25. #meatfree #QuornFoods #UK

Dr. Oetker has expanded its Ristorante frozen pizza range with the release of a vegan pizza, a first for the brand in the UK. The Vegan Society-certified Ristorante Margherita Pomodori pizza features the signature thin, crispy crust and tomato sauce associated with pizzas in the company’s Ristorante product line; along with a melted, grated vegan cheese alternative, sun-dried and cherry tomatoes and a basil garnish. Dr. Oetker claims that the release of the new vegan pizza aims to address the rising demand for vegan options from UK consumers. According to IRI statistics provided by the company, sales of vegan frozen pizzas increased 42% in the year from March 2020 to March 2021. Josephine Skinner, senior brand manager at Dr. Oetker, said: “While we are seeing more and more pizza options for vegans and flexitarians, there are few inspiring Italian style options, particularly in the freezer aisles of the nation’s supermarkets. “We are really excited to announce the launch of our Ristorante Vegan Margherita Pomodori – we worked hard perfecting this recipe as we really wanted to offer the best tasting, Italian inspired vegan pizza possible, to give those opting for a plant-based diet the real taste experience of a brand they know and love.” The vegan Ristorante Margherita Pomodori pizza is available nationwide in the UK from major retailers, with a suggested retail price of £3.69. #DrOetker #pizza #UK #vegan