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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Alternative Protein

Japan: Next Meats Announces New Alternative Protein Production Facility

Tokyo-based Next Meats Co. announced today their plan to start construction of their alternative protein “NEXT Factory” in Niigata, Japan. The new, large-scale facility will be dedicated to the development of alternative proteins, feature both and R&D lab as well as a production line, and is scheduled to be completed next summer.

Next Meats makes plant-based meat analogues such as its Yakiniku Short Rib and NEXT Gyudon vegan traditional Japanese beef bowl. More recently, the company announced a newly developed plant-based egg product dubbed NEXT EGG 1.0, which is initially being offered as a B2B ingredient.

In addition to developing its own products, the NEXT Factory will also co-produce a new product with Kameda Saika, a prominent snack manufacturer in Japan, and Next Meats has also signed a research and development agreement with Nagaoka University of Technology to look into epigenetic applications in creating new alternative meat products.

This announcement marks the latest production facility to open up from an alternative protein company, signaling a continued maturation of the space. Companies across the alt protein space have started work on or opened such production factories including cultured meat company Future Meat, mycoprotein company Better Meat, and protein-from-air company Air Protein.

Obviously, a key benefit of having mass production facilities is that they can produce more alternative protein products at scale, thereby reducing their costs and making them more available to consumers around the world.

Fittingly, in addition to producing plant-based meat, Next Meat’s new factory will also be eco-friendly using DX cooling systems, solar panels and locally-sourced building materials. And in a nice touch, the facility is being built in the hometown of Next Meats co-founder Ryo Shirai, who said he wanted to give back to his community.

NovoNutrients Raises $4.7M to Complete Its Pilot Program for Alt-Protein Made from CO2 Inputs

NovoNutrients, a company that creates protein from CO2 inputs, today announced a $4.7 million fundraise to complete its industrial pilot program that will capture CO2 emissions from from oil, gas, and cement-related plants.

The round was led by Happiness Capital, a Hong Kong-based venture firm that has previously invested in Redefine Meat, Ynsect, and Beyond Meat. E2JDJ and Marinya Capital also joined the round, which included re-ups from SOSV’s IndieBio and the Grantham Environmental Trust. Other investors include Stanford Graduate School of Business Impact Fund, Purple Orange Ventures, and Joyance Partners.

NovoNutrients feeds the CO2 inputs it collects to naturally occurring microbes via a fermentation process. The resulting proteins have a variety of uses, including as ingredients in meat analogues as well as animal feeds. NovoNutrients says its protein can improve the amino acid profile of food products.

That nutrition element will work in NovoNutrients favor as it continues to develop its air protein and looks to scale production. At the recent IFT FIRST event, panelists suggested that while a lot of the focus in meat analogues right now is on taste and texture, the nutritional profile of proteins will become more important to consumers moving forward.  

Actually getting a product to consumers is still a ways off for NovoNutrients, however. For the time being, the company is focused on showing its fermentation tech can work at scale. The company will co-locate its bioreactors (aka fermentation tanks) at industrial sites that produce high levels of greenhouse gases. 

The pilot project is focused on a 1,000-liter bioreactor. NovoNutrients says it will stand up a 20,000-liter industrial demo in the near future. 

NovoNutrients is one of a few companies now developing novel protein from CO2, hydrogen, and other air inputs. Others include Air Protein, Solar Foods, and Deep Branch. Last year, the European Space Agency started working with Solar Foods to develop the technology for use in space to feed astronauts.

NovoNutrients said today that its pilot project will allow the company to start raising Series A funding later this year.  

Forget Plants. Alt-Meat Needs More Mycoprotein

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Of the three pillars of alternative protein, plant-based is getting the most mainstream attention and cultivated meat is the currernt darling of VC investors. But fermentation may be the most practical in terms of both cost and scalability, and one area of that segment turning heads of late is mycoprotein. 

From an affordability and nutritional point of view, mycoprotein has a boatload of advantages over other forms of alternative protein — a point underscored this week when The Spoon’s Chris Albrecht profiled a company called Kernel Mycofoods. In their own words, the folks behind the Buenos Aires, Argentina-based company are currently on a mission to “make a product that [is] comparable without a price that will exclude the emerging markets.”

But Kernel isn’t the only company hoping to bring mycoprotein to the forefront, which makes now a good time to take a closer look into what this segment of fermentation is and why it matters to alternative protein.

Mycoprotein is a single-cell protein made from a naturally occurring filamentous fungus called fusarium venenatum. To get mycoprotein, fungi spores are fermented alongside glucose in fermentation tanks in a process similar to that of brewing beer. The entire operation produces a pasty, doughy texture that resembles a chicken breast. 

Up to now, the most well-known application of mycoprotein is as the main ingredient of Quorn’s meat analogues. But as noted above, several other companies are now getting recognition for their use of mycoprotein as an alternative to traditional meat. That list includes Kernel Mycofoods as well as Better Meat Co., which opened its production facility last month, and food giant Unilever. The latter is producing a mycoprotein called Abunda through a partnership with Scottish company Enough. 

Experts say mycoprotein is high in fiber, low in sodium, has an inherently meaty texture, and is rich in amino acids. Kernel, for example, says its mycoprotein has a higher protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score than beef, soy, or wheat gluten.

Mycoprotein falls into the “biomass fermentation” category, as opposed to traditional or precision fermentation (though the lines between all three can be blurred). Because of this, its biggest advantage compared to other forms of alt-protein is its ability to scale at a lower price point. The Good Food Institute noted in its 2020 State of the Industry report on fermentation that biomass fermentation offers “well-established examples of scalability and cost reduction suitable for alternative protein applications.” 

Mycoprotein specifically has a number of other advantages. 

Versatility is a big one. Mycoprotein can be used on its own, as Quorn does with it, or it can be blended with traditional meat to enhance the latter’s flavor and nutritional profile. For example, it could reduce the amount of cholesterol found in a traditional burger patty.

Mycoprotein also already has an established track record, having been approved for use in food products in the early 1980s. That point alone suggests companies won’t face the same types of regulatory hurdles they do with, say, cultured meat. 

And as an alternative to plant-based meat analogues like those of Beyond and Impossible, mycoprotein is a potentially much more eco-friendly operation since it doesn’t require land to grow plants or significant amounts of downstream processing to get the meaty texture consumers want.

Of all these things, though, nutrition might just be the main driver behind mycoprotein. Citing panelists at the recent IFT FIRST event, Food Navigator recently reported that “consumers increasingly want products that are nutritionally comparable to or better for them than animal protein – something the current industry is not fully delivering.” The “current industry” in this case are plant-based analogues from the likes of Beyond and Impossible, companies that talk at length about elements like texture and mouthfeel but very little about their products nutritional profiles. Nutrition will, according to IFT FIRST panelists, be the “disrupting” factor in the near term when it comes to alternative proteins.

All of those factors mean mycoprotein could well become the breakout star of the alt-protein sector by the end of the year.

More Headlines

Plant-Based Cheese Company Nobell Foods Raises $75M – The company will use the new funds to commercialize its first plant-based cheese products, including mozzarella, which the company makes from soybeans that are genetically edited to produce casein. 

Bezos-Backed NotCo Raises $235M for Plant-Based Alternatives – This new capital will allow NotCo to expand into new product categories in North America and scale its proprietary A.I. platform. 

Redefine Meat Launches 5 “New Meat” Plant-Based Proteins in Israel – Plant-based meat company Redefine Meat announced five new products are now available at select Israeli restaurants and hotels. 

 

 

Redefine Meat Launches 5 “New Meat” Plant-Based Proteins in Israel

Plant-based meat company Redefine Meat announced five new products are now available at select Israeli restaurants and hotels. The “New-Meat” line consists of Redefine Burger, Redefine Ground Beef, Redefine Lamb Kabob, Redefine Sausage, and Redefine Cigar (a classic Middle East dish that wraps meat in pastry).

As we’ve covered before:

Redefine Meat uses 3D-printing technology along with ingredients it calls “Alt-Fat,” “Alt-Muscle,” and “Alt-Blood” to create whole cuts of plant-based meat that mimic animal-based meat. The company has also mapped out 70 sensorial parameters that let it control factors such as texture, juiciness, fat distribution and mouthfeel.

It should be noted that the products Redefine announced today are not whole cuts, but rather ground versions of meat. This is a pretty standard way for plant-based meat companies to enter the market because replicating the structure of animal meat with plants is way more difficult than creating a minced product.

And like Impossible Foods, Redefine Meat is first going to restaurants with its new plant-based meats. It’s “New-Meats” are available at: Hudson, Nam, Asif Center, Eddi’s Hideout, The Lounge, Sinta Bar, C2, Guesta, Joz & DanieBudega, and American Kitchen.

Redefine plans to expand New-Meat availability to Europe in Q4 of this year followed by U.S. and Asian expansion in 2022.

The entire plant-based meat space is getting more sophisticated and moving beyond burgers (pardon the pun). Juicy Marbles introduced its (expensive) plant-based filet mignon in March of this year. In January of this year NovaMeat, which also uses 3D printing technology to create meat analogues, received €250,000 (~ $307,500 USD at the time) from the Spanish government and announced a collaboration with Disfrutar, a two-Michelin star restaurant. Other players in the 3D-printed plant-based meat space include fellow Israeli companies MeaTech and SavorEats (both of which are publicly traded on the Israeli stock exchange).

At the beginning of this year, Redefine Meat announced a partnership with Israeli meat distributor Best Meister and followed that with a $29 million Series A round of funding. The company plans to debut its whole cuts of plant-based meat at the end of this year, following pilot tests.

Kernel Mycofoods Wants to Make Affordable Fermented Protein for Emerging Markets

Whether or not you believe plant-based proteins are healthier for you or a way to save the planet, the one thing we can agree on is that they are not cheap. Over at my local Safeway I can buy a six-pack of Impossible Burger patties (24 oz.) for $15.99, or I can by a 10-pack (40 oz.) of Safeway-branded beef patties for $8.99. For families on tight food budgets, that $7 dollar difference is a huge deal.

Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Kernel Mycofoods is on a mission to bridge this price gap and deliver sustainable, healthy, plant-based protein at an affordable price for people around the world. “We started looking at how could we make a product that was comparable without a price that will exclude the emerging markets,” Kernel CFO Miguel Neumann told me last week by video chat.

As Neumann explained to me, there are plenty of markets around the world clamoring for a plant-based protein option, but aren’t able to sell a $7 burger because people there can’t afford. So Kernel turned to fungi.

The basis of Kernel’s product is the Fusarium venenatum strain of fungi, which has already been approved for consumption by regulatory bodies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and The European Food Safety Authority. Additionally, Kernel says that growing its protein requires less water and land use than beef, chicken or soy, and produces fewer CO2 emissions than raising beef or chicken.

Using precision fermentation, Kernel is able to transform this fungi into a mycoprotein that it says has a higher protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score than beef, soy and wheat gluten. The company isn’t just fermenting fungi, however. It is also using computer vision and artificial intelligence to adjust the fermentation process to achieve different outcomes for its protein. Neumann told me that they have researchers examining each spore on the fungi on a microscopic level. With that information, they can change certain factors in the fermentation process to change something like the protein’s texture.

Kernel isn’t in the business of creating its own line of myco-burgers, however. “There are plenty of companies that are producing a lot of very loyal customers,” Neumann said. “We can not go into a straight fight with them.” Instead, the company will sell its protein to CPG companies for use in plant-based burgers, crackers and other types of consumer products.

Kernel may not want to fight for marketshare with other consumer brands, but it will be facing plenty of competition in the overall mycoprotein space. Fermentation is a hot technology right now, and there are a number of players using the technology to transform fungi into mycoprotein. Unilever is using Enough’s Abunda mycoprotein as an ingredient in plant-based meat from The Vegetarian Butcher brand. Tyson and Kellogg both invested in MycoTechnologies last year. And Better Meat Co. opened up its production facility last month to create its Rhiza mycoprotein.

Neumann said Kernel should be able to launch at scale in January of 2022, at which point the price should drop from its current cost of $3 per kilo to $1 per kilo. As it grows, hopefully the company can continue to bring those prices down so that more markets around the world do indeed have the opportunity to enjoy Kernel’s plant-based protein.

Bezos-Backed NotCo Raises $235M for Plant-Based Alternatives

NotCo, a Chile-based food tech company that produces various plant-based alternative foods, announced today that it has raised $235 million in its Series D round of funding.

The round was led by Tiger Global and saw participation from DFJ Growth Fund and ZOMA Lab, with individuals also joining including Jack Dorsey, Joe Gebbia, Lewis Hamilton, Roger Federer, and DJ Questlove. Existing investors include Bezos Expeditions, EHI, Future Positive, L Catterton, and Kaszek Ventures. This brings the company’s total funding to $360 million.

This new capital will allow NotCo to expand into new product categories in North America and scale its proprietary A.I. platform. Additionally, the funds will help the company accelerate its plans to launch in Europe and Asia. Currently, NotCo offers five products: NotMilk, NotBurger, NotIceCream, and NotMayo. The products are available in approximately 6,000 retailers and foodservice locations throughout the U.S., Chile, Brazil, and Argentina.

Something that sets NotCo apart from other plant-based companies is its use of its A.I. technology (the company has five patents in the U.S. for this). Called Giuseppe, the proprietary A.I. platform analyzes the properties of thousands of plants in a database and then creates unique combinations with the goal of replicating animal ingredients. For example, the ingredients in the NotMilk product include pea protein, pineapple juice, chicory root, coconut oil, and cabbage juice.

NotCo joins the ranks with other large players in the plant-based space that have successfully expanded internationally. Beyond Meat fortified its presence in Europe earlier this year, and around the same time announced that it had opened a manufacturing facility in China. Impossible Foods and Just Eat made major expansions to Asia in the fall of 2020. Oatly is currently building or planning future production facilities in Singapore, China, and the UK.

In the U.S., NotCo’s NotMilk is currently available in Sprouts, Whole Foods, Wegmans, and other retailers. All of the company’s products are available in Chile, Brazil, and Argentina. By the end of 2021, NotCo aims to have its products available in 8,000 retailers globally.

Plant-Based Cheese Company Nobell Foods Raises $75M

Plant-based cheesemaker Nobell Foods announced a $75 million Series B fundraise and launched out of stealth mode this week.

The round was led by investment group Breakthrough Energy Ventures and included participation from new investors Hillhouse Capital Group and Footprint Coalition. Existing investors AgFunder, Andreesen Horowitz, Mission Bay Capital, Fifty Years, New Crop Capital, Germin8 Ventures, former Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, and Pear VC also took part. Nobell has now raised $100 million in total, according to Fast Company, which was first to report the news.

Nobell will use the new funds to commercialize its first plant-based cheese products, including mozzarella, which the company makes from soybeans that are genetically edited to produce casein. Casein, a protein unique to milk, is a major contributor to the texture, taste, and melt-a-bility of cheese. It’s also an element most plant-based cheeses out there lack, which is why so many fall short of the mark when it comes to adequately mimicking the real thing. 

Nobell effectively trains soybeans to produce this casein. The company has been quietly developing this method for the last four years, and says it could wind up being cheaper than the costs of producing cheese using cow’s milk. 

Cheese comes with a heavy environmental footprint. As demand for dairy has increased, so too has the percentage of global emissions the sector produces. Cheese, in particular, is highly resource intensive. 

There are many, many plant-based cheese options out there. Most of them can’t replicate the taste, texture, and mouthfeel of dairy-based cheese yet, largely because they don’t contain the aforementioned casein.

However, Nobell isn’t quite the only company out there producing the protein from alternative sources, though it’s the only one using plants for the process. A company called New Culture uses genetically modified microbes like yeast to produce casein, training these microbes to make the protein. Alt-dairy company Perfect Day also uses genetically modified microbes. 

In a statement on the Nobell website, founder Magi Richani says that cheese is “the last frontier, the insurmountable thing” most consumers won’t get up. With Nobell, she aims to ensure these consumers don’t have to give it up and can still enjoy, stretchy, melty, tasty cheese without further compromising the health of the planet.  

Why Plant-Based Nuggets are Gold

When I think of chicken nuggets, I think of my young son. More specifically, I remember how at one point I surreptitiously replaced his animal-based chicken nuggets and tenders with plant-based ones… and he didn’t notice (or didn’t care). That small bit of deception is why I think the plant-based chicken nugget market could be a very big deal.

Plant-based chicken nuggets are nothing new. Companies like Quorn, Morningstar and Gardein have been selling them in the frozen aisles of grocery stores for years now. But things really heated up this month when both Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods jumped into the faux poultry ring. Beyond, which had previously piloted plant-based chicken with KFC, announced a couple weeks back that its new tenders are available at 400 restaurants across the country. That announcement was quickly followed by the news that Impossible was unveiling its nuggets to potential restaurant customers this week for a fall rollout.

While both of their plant-based chicken products will debut at restaurants, it’s a no-brainer that their nuggets will eventually make it to store shelves. Both Beyond and Impossible spent a great deal of time last year vastly expanding their national retail sales footprint, all the heavy lifting of getting into stores in done, they now just need to roll out their nuggets.

And it’s on the store shelves where things get interesting, as there will be ton of competition. Not only are the stalwarts like Quorn, Morningstar and Gardein already there, but giants like Tyson has its Raised & Rooted plant-based nuggets, and Target has its own Good & Gather brand. Not to mention there is also a new crop of plant-based nugget startups like Rebellyous, SIMULATE, Nowadays, and Daring Foods competing for your dollar.

Competing for your top dollar, that is. Right now, you have to pay extra for plant-based chicken. A quick look at Safeway shows that an 8-ounce package of Raised and Rooted nuggets is $4.99, compared with a 32-ounce package of traditional animal based nuggets for $7.79. That’s almost four times as much food for a few dollars more.

But this is where Beyond and Impossible can help. While both of their burger products are still more expensive than traditional meat, consumer prices for Beyond and Impossible have steadily come down over the past couple of years. It’s a safe bet that the same will happen for their chicken products. With the brand recognition both Beyond and Impossible have, they should be able to quickly gain market share at retail and exert price pressure on other players in the space.

Another big opportunity for plant-based chicken nuggets and tenders is in schools cafeterias, where nuggets are menu staple. The USDA reports that schools served 5 billion lunches in fiscal year 2019, so it’s no surprise that schools were actually one of Rebellyous’ primary markets before the pandemic shut everything down last year. Also consider that this past May, Impossible received the Child Nutrition (CN) Label authorized by the USDA, which will make it easier for schools to purchase the Impossible Burger. With Impossible running pilots programs with a number of school districts across the U.S., it’s a safe bet the company will get the same regulatory approval for its nuggets.

But the big reason plant-based chicken nuggets and tenders will be huge goes back to my son. Nuggets and tenders are really more of a kids’ food (though, who doesn’t love a good nugget?), and if you can create a reasonable facsimile, they aren’t going to care. It’s not like trying to replicate a filet mignon at a fine dining establishment. Creating a plant-based filet requires “muscle” and fat structures. Plus, consumers have a heightened expectation around what a filet is and should be, so the uncanny valley is much greater. Nuggets, on the other hand, are junk food. (I say that with love) There doesn’t need to be a ton of complexity to make a good nugget. Bread it, flavor it, make sure it looks enough like meat on the inside and there you go. Kids will knock ’em back no fuss no muss.

Until now, burgers have been the star of the plant-based meat world, but don’t be surprised if next year plant-based chicken nuggets take center stage.

Photo from Nature’s Fynd website

More Headlines

Nature’s Fynd Raises $350M Series C for its Microbial Protein – The protein originates from a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park.

Gathered Foods is Bringing Plant-Based Options to Long John Silver’s – Five locations in California and Georgia now serve Good Catch’s Crab-Free Cakes and Fish-Free Fillets

Multus Media Raises $2.2M for Cultured Meat Serum Replacement – The company says its growth media lasts twice as long as existing serum.

Mzansi Meat Co. is Bringing Cultured Meat to Africa – Representing the food and farming culture of Africa is important to Mzansi Meat Co., and the company will be extracting cells from indigenous cattle breeds.

Shiok Meats Closes Bridge Funding Round, Plans R&D Facility for Cultivated Seafood

Cultured seafood company Shiok Meats has raised an undisclosed amount of investment in a bridge funding round from Woowa Brothers Asia Holdings, CJ CheilJedang Corporation, and Vietnamese-based seafood exporter Vinh Hoan Corporation. This brings Shiok Meats’ total funding to date to $30 million, according to a company press release. 

The round also included existing investors IRONGREY, Big Idea Ventures, Twynam Investments, Henry Soesanto, The Alexander Payne Living Trust, Beyond Impact Vegan Partners, Boom Capital Fund, Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, and Mindshift Capital.

While Shiok Meats did not disclose the exact amount of the bridge round, it likely clocked in around the $10 million mark, a figure based on publicly available information about the company’s financials.  

The new funds will go towards building an R&D production facility in Singapore, where the company is based. To date, Shiok Meats has developed cultivated shrimp and lobster, and aims to eventually produce those products at scale via its production facility.

Several other cultivated protein companies, including Future Meat, MeaTech 3D, and fellow cultured-seafood company Willdtype, have also announced production facilities over the last few months. BlueNalu, another seafood-focused company, announced a production facility back in 2020 that is slated to be operational towards the end of this year.

For its part, Shiok Meats says it plans to launch in Singapore by 2023 at the latest. The company received the prestigious Startup SG Tech Proof-of-Value grant, which helps companies fast-track development of their technologies/products and which could help Shiok Meats get to market faster.

In Singapore, at least, Shiok already has competition. San Francisco, California-based Eat Just nabbed the world’s first-ever regulatory approval to sell cultivated meat from Singapore and is currently selling its “chicken” at restaurants in the city-state.   

Kite Hill Aims to Boost Protein Content of Plant-Based Dairy with New Product Launch

One major complaint of plant-based products is the lack of protein, as many alternative products are not on par with the product they are trying to replicate. The average American actually consumes double the amount of protein required, so it’s no surprise that we are so fixated on the protein content of plant-based alternatives. One company in the plant-based space, Kite Hill, recently launched new yogurt products with a boosted protein content.

Kite Hill recently debuted four new flavors of high-protein yogurt; strawberry, blueberry, vanilla, and plain. The yogurt is made from a base of almond milk and boasts 10-12 grams of protein (depending on the flavor) from added soy isolate. Additionally, the company added a new flavor to its dip line, a spicy queso (not a high-protein product), and its main ingredients are cultured almond milk and coconut oil.

When Kite Hill offered to send me samples of its high-protein yogurts and queso, I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical. One non-dairy protein yogurt I tried recently was straight-up gritty. Catherine Lamb, a previous writer at The Spoon, tried Ripple’s high-protein Greek yogurt and was not a fan.

Photo by Ashlen Wilder

I am pleased to report that none of the flavors of the Kite Hill yogurt had a gritty texture or off-flavor. Each of the flavors had a creamy texture and the tangy flavor that yogurt should have. I normally don’t go for flavored yogurts due to the high sugar content, but each fruit flavor had 5 grams of sugar.

The non-dairy queso had a very thick texture straight out of the refrigerator. The directions on the package instructed that the queso should be heated for 30 seconds in the microwave. After it was heated, it had the familiar gooey, liquid texture of traditional queso. It had a delightfully spicy kick and went well with chips, and drizzled on tacos and black beans.

It’s hard to keep track of how many alternative yogurts and cheese products are now available on the market, and some are definitely better than others. Lavva uses pili nuts to produce a creamy and tangy plant yogurt. The Collaborative raised $7 million last year for the expansion of its coconut-based yogurt. There are also other brands that produce vegan yogurt like Forager, So Delicious, Cocojune, Oatly, Harmless Harvest, and Daiya. Larger companies like Chobani and Yoplait have even stepped up in recent years to offer plant-based options.

As for vegan queso, a few others exist on the market. Loca Food produces delicious non-dairy queso made from a base of potatoes. Siete and Mother Raw are two other companies also competing in this space.

Despite how many alternative options are available on retailer shelves, I would still probably purchase the Kite Hill high-protein yogurt again if I saw it in stores. I typically don’t purchase queso, but I think a queso lover who avoids dairy would enjoy this product. The individual 5.3oz protein yogurts cost $1.99, while the 16 oz. tub of plain yogurt costs $5.99. The 8oz tub of queso costs. $4.99, and all of the products are available in Whole Foods and Sprouts nationwide.

Nature’s Fynd Raises $350M Series C for its Microbial Protein

Nature’s Fynd, which makes protein from microbes that originated in geothermal springs of Yellowstone National Park, announced today that it has raised a $350 million Series C round of funding. The round was led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, with participcation from new investors including Blackstone Strategic Partners, Balyasny Asset Management, Hillhouse Investment, EDBI, SK Inc. and Hongkou, as well as other existing investors. This brings the total amount raised by Nature’s Fynd to more than $500 million.

The company’s protein is called Fy, and it’s a fermented fungi protein derived from the Fusar­i­um strain flavolapis microbe. Because Fy is grown through fermentation, the cultivation of the protein requires less land, water and energy than traditional agriculture. Fy is a complete protein with 9 essential amino acids, and it can be used to make alternative meat and dairy products. In February of this year, Nature’s Fynd announced its first two Fy-based products: a dairy-free cream cheese and a meatless breakfast patty. The company also makes a dairy-free yogurt that was eaten on camera by Bill Gates (a Nature’s Fynd investor) and Anderson Cooper during a segment on 60 Minutes earlier this year.

Fermentation has been dubbed the third pillar of alternative protein, alongside cell-based and plant-based protein. We have seen a wave of startups using fermentation technology to bring variety of animal-free products to market. Perfect Day and Remilk use fermentation to create dairy proteins. Nourish Ingredients ferments yeast to make plant-based fats. SuperBrewed ferments microbes to create a vegan protein powder than can be used in plant-based cheese and milks. And Better Meat Co. recently launched its own fermentation production facility to create its mycoprotein-based Rhiza ingredient.

All of this activity has also helped attract plenty of funding over the past year and a half. According to data from the Good Food Institute and Pitchbook, fermentation startups received $590 million in funding in 2020. In addition to Nature’s Fynd’s haul announced today, last month Motif Foodworks, which uses microbial engineering and precision fermentation to create novel food ingredients, raised $226 million.

Nature’s Fynd said it will use its new funding to expand its production capacity, add new products to its lineup, and set the stage for its international growth.

Gathered Foods is Bringing Plant-Based Options to Long John Silver’s

Gathered Foods, the parent company of plant-based seafood brand Good Catch, is now supplying plant-based seafood products to select Long John Silver’s location. The new menu items launched today in five locations in California and Georgia.

Good Catch’s Crab-Free Cakes and Fish-Free Fillets are the two alternative products being featured at Long John Silver’s. The restaurant chain will incorporate these products into several new menu items, including the Plant-Based Platter, two meal options, and à la carte.

Good Catch uses a proprietary blend of six legumes to create its high-protein seafood alternatives. The plant-based fish fillets aim to mimic a flaky white fish and include a breaded coating. The plant-based crab cakes are also breaded and have a lump crabmeat-like texture. The crab cakes have 15 grams of protein per serving, while the fillets have 12 grams.

Gathered Foods is not the only company to bring its plant-based products to nationwide chains as of late. Beyond Meat recently launched its new plant-based chicken tenders products in around 400 restaurants nationwide. Impossible Foods has plans to unveil plant-based chicken nuggets this week, with the intention of launching the new product in restaurants this fall. Greenleaf Foods’ Field Roast brand partnered with Little Caesars to launch its alternative pepperoni (called “Planteroni”) in five U.S. markets last week. These partnerships signal that the demand for plant-based options is still going strong, and nationwide chains must respond.

Long John Silver’s will be serving up Good Catch’s plant-based seafood in Georgia cities of Newnan and Albany, and in California cities Bakersfield, Sacramento, and Clovis. The alternative seafood options will be available at the select locations until supplies last.