The Protein Brewery announced that it raised €22 million in Series A investment, bringing its total funding to €26 million. The new round was led by Novo Holdings, joined by new investors Roquette Ventures and Unovis Asset Management, and will enable The Protein Brewery to continue its R&D, cover operational costs and scale up production of the Fermotein™ food ingredient.

Market potential of alternative proteins

With Fermotein™, The Protein Brewery is well positioned to enter a €30 billion-plus market for alternative proteins with huge growth potential.

Fermotein™ will be available in both wet ‘cake’ product for applications such as meat alternatives or processed meats, and dry powder for different products including pasta, bakery products, protein bars, shakes, chocolate and ice cream.

Due to its innovative nature, Fermotein™ requires regulatory approval for application as a food ingredient. The process is already in motion for the US and European markets, with regulatory approval expected in 2021 in the US and 2022 in Europe.

High sustainability

Fermotein™ production technology is made up of a unique combination of The Protein Brewery’s proprietary microorganisms (‘fungi’) combined with a highly cost-effective and easy-to-operate brewing process.

The result is a food ingredient with an excellent nutritional profile and an amino acid composition similar to conventional meat.

Fermotein™ has one of the lowest ecological footprints of all proteins, whether animal-based or animal-free. It uses only 1% of land, 3% of CO₂ and 5% of water compared to the beef industry and can be produced with local resources in any part of the world from a large variety of crops such as casava, corn, potatoes, sugar beet, and sugar cane.

“The financial support and domain expertise of our investors provide headway towards the realization of a pilot plant. It is paramount in the development of our company to continue the journey with committed shareholders who share the know-how, drive and enthusiasm for producing natural based food,” says Wim de Laat, founder of The Protein Brewery.

“We’re very excited to be part of The Protein Brewery’s project and their breakthrough fermentation technology,” says Thomas Grotkjær, Principal at Novo Holdings. “Fermotein™ is nutritious and very sustainable with a wide range of consumer applications. With this product, the company is entering the fast-growing alternative proteins market. We look forward to growing commercially with Wim and his team and the other investors.”

Besides the existing investors and Wim de Laat, each of the new investors will be represented in the Supervisory Board; Thomas Grotkjær of Novo Holdings, Edouard Nuttin of Roquette Ventures and Kim Odhner of Unovis Asset Management.