ENOUGH (previously 3f Bio) produces ABUNDA mycoprotein, a meals ingredient constructed from fungi, at its Sas van Gent facility within the Netherlands. ABUNDA accommodates all 9 important amino acids, is excessive in fibre, and can be utilized to make meat, seafood and dairy alternate options.
Having opened the ability final 12 months, ENOUGH has now secured €40m in funding to scale up manufacturing. “With these funds we’ll double the capability within the Netherlands from 10k to 20k tonnes,” CEO Jim Laird advised FoodNavigator. “We anticipate the second line to be operational by early 2025.”
The funding spherical was co-led by local weather tech VC World Fund and meals tech investor CPT Capital, with assist from AXA IM Alts, HAL Investments, Onassis Group, Tailor-made Options and Sottish Enterprise.
“ENOUGH has made nice strides up to now few years to launch out new manufacturing unit within the Netherlands and scape as much as work with clients throughout the UK and Europe,” stated Laird. “With this new funding, we’ll speed up that development.
Fermenting protein for a sustainable future
To make ABUNDA mycoprotein, ENOUGH feeds fungi with sugars sourced from grain in a fermentation course of it likens to beer and wine manufacturing. The corporate sources the wheat sugars from a Cargill manufacturing unit, which it’s co-located alongside in Sas van Gent.
The result’s mycoprotein – an ingredient with a impartial flavour and meat-like texture appropriate for making different meat, seafood, and even dairy merchandise.
Corporations presently incorporating ABUNDA into their plant-based meat merchandise embrace Unilever’s The Vegetarian Butcher and European poultry processor Plukon Meals Group, which is growing animal-free hen and meat different merchandise. “You possibly can hardly inform the distinction between our non-animal hen with ABUNDA and conventional hen,” stated Plukon CCO Niels van Gestel.
From a sustainability perspective, ABUNDA is as much as 15 occasions extra environment friendly than protein from beef, which ENOUGH attributes to its proprietary know-how and zero-waste manufacturing. It makes use of as much as 93% much less water, 97% much less feed and causes 97% fewer CO2 emissions than protein from beef.
Regardless of robust sustainability credentials for meat different merchandise throughout the board, the sector has noticed indicators of a slowdown of late. Some plant-based meat firms have employed directors (Meatless Farm, for one), and others are dropping income amid diminished client demand.
However regardless of this slowdown – or ‘shakedown’ because it has been referred to – producing ‘huge portions’ of sustainable protein should stay of the world’ ‘most pressing’ priorities, believes ENOUGH.
The worldwide meat business accounts for practically 15% of all greenhouse gasoline emissions, whereas additionally being of the most important sources of methane and causes of deforestation. On the similar time, analysts have backed plant-based meals to develop in market share. In 2021, analysis by BCG predicted the choice protein market to achieve $290bn (€266bn) by 2035, with at the very least 10% of meat, eggs, dairy and seafood eaten across the globe coming from different sources.
However based on ENOUGH, present options are solely able to producing low-scale portions, that are dearer and inaccessible to the mass market. That is what the corporate is aiming to vary.
“The choice protein market is a multi-billion-dollar alternative, and the moral and environmental causes to embrace non-animal protein sources are extra urgent than ever,” stated Laird.
Scaling as much as grow to be the main sustainable protein producer
The €40m funding will likely be used to double ENOUGH’s capability on the Sas van Gent website from 10,000 to twenty,000 tonnes. The power might assist greater than 60,000 tonnes per 12 months – the equal of rising one cow’s value of protein each two minutes – however it might take one other three to 4 years with a max of 1 extra line per 12 months, the CEO advised this publication.
At that stage, ENOUGH can be thought of the main participant to provide sustainable protein at such a big scale. “We imagine we’re the most important new protein facility constructed this decade,” stated Laird.
Regardless of its rising dimension, ENOUGH is competing with different mycoprotein producers together with Sweden-headquartered Mycorena and mycoprotein pioneer Quorn. The latter just lately arrange an components division to produce its mycoprotein to different meals and beverage makers.
As as to whether the brand new division, Marlow Elements, makes for large competitors for ENOUGH, Laird stated he welcomes extra gamers to the sector. “ENOUGH’s view is that we’re competing within the 600m tonne international protein market, the place the overwhelming majority of that is equipped by intensive animal farming.
“We now have a agency imagine that merchandise made utilizing fungi from protein will assist to make one of the best tasting meals, which with easy components lists style pretty much as good or higher, and value the identical or lower than the animal different.
“We all know that ENOUGH’s capability can solely account for a tiny fraction of the market, and so we welcome different mycoprotein suppliers available in the market.”
On the similar time, ENOUGH is keeping track of international demand to observe for indicators it’s growing, it might additionally look to second territories in parallel to its Dutch website scale up. The hope can be to copy the co-location mannequin it has in Europe inside continents equivalent to North America or Asia, Laird revealed.
