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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

chickpea

ChickP Expanding to US, Begins Commercial Production of Chickpea Isolate Protein

ChickP, an Israeli-based chickpea protein start-up, announced today that it will be expanding to the US to explore partnerships and that it has started commercial production of its chickpea isolate protein. The company has signed a joint market development agreement with Socius Ingredients, a company that uses food ingredients for different applications, for its US expansion.

ChickP produces a fully plant-based and non-GMO chickpea isolate that contains 90% protein content. Because chickpeas have a neutral flavor, the chickpea isolate is versatile and can be used in protein powders, pastries, snack foods, desserts, creamers, and beverages. Towards the end of 2020, the company announced the launch of an additional product, a chickpea starch called Chickpea Native Starch, for a variety of food and beverage applications.

Currently, ChickP’s facilities are producing 20 metric tons of chickpea isolate every day, and 5,000 metric tons a year. In today’s press announcement, the company said it “is actively seeking new opportunities in the plant-based alternatives industry, especially in the thriving US market,” and that ChickP has already accepted production commitments from several new customers.

Chickpeas are used as the key ingredient in many plant-based foods, in everything from pasta to meat alternatives. In the US, Peggs is making a plant-based powdered egg product using chickpea powder as one of the main ingredients. Another Israeli-based start-up, InnovoPro, raised $15 million last year for its B2B chickpea protein powder. HIPPEAS, which is based in the US, raised $50 million last month for its chickpea puffs and chips.

ChickP didn’t disclose which companies it will be supplying, but it was did say it is already working on several specialized projects for plant-based innovation in North America.

ChickP Releases New Starch For Food and Beverage Applications

ChickP Protein, an Israeli-based food tech startup, announced the release of its chickpea isolate starch today. The product is called “ChickP Native Starch” and contains 98% pure starch.

The chickpea starch is the most recent product from ChickP and is made with the same technology used to create the company’s isolated chickpea protein (which was launched last year). It is non-GMO and has a neutral taste and aroma. Compared to pea and potato starches, the chickpea starch is actually better at thickening products due to the narrow granule size of a chickpea

Last year, we covered how ChickP’s protein isolate could be used to make creamy plant-based milk or other dairy products. The new chickpea starch can also be used to thicken alternative dairy, as well as plant-based meat analogs, desserts, soups, and baked goods.

Chickpeas show a lot of promise for plant-based alternative products, and several other companies are capitalizing on the potential of this legume. Innovopro, also based in Israel, raised $15 million USD earlier this year for its chickpea protein powder. US-based Nutriati produces chickpea protein and flour through its Artesa brand. With these new technologies, chickpeas may be showing up as the main ingredient in products like plant-based milk, ice cream, and alternative meats.

Earlier this year, the Growthwell Group invested in ChickP to use its chickpea protein isolate to develop alternative meats products in the Asian market. ChickP is currently in the process of developing food applications for its chickpea starch.

The Food Tech Show: Why is Amazon Giving Away Food Network Kitchen Access?

The Spoon editor team got together this week to talk about some of the top food tech stories, including Gavin Newsom’s move to start working with restaurants to deliver food to seniors and asking why Amazon’s decided to give away the Food Network Kitchen service for free in coming months.

Other stories discuss include Cheetah’s funding round and the recent spate of chickpea protein investments.

As always, you can listen to the Food Tech Show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download it direct to your device or just click play below to listen to it right now.

If you’d like to watch the video of our podcast recording, you can check it out on Crowdcast.

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Israel: InnovoPro Snags $15M to Boost Chickpea Protein Production

Chickpea protein is bulking up. Today Israel-based company InnovoPro announced it had raised a $15 million funding round led by Jerusalem Venture Partners with participation from CPT Capital. This brings the total amount raised by the company to just under $20 million.

InnovoPro makes a chickpea-based protein powder for B2B use. Called CP-Pro 70, the powder is 70 percent chickpea protein (chickpeas naturally have about 20 percent protein). It’s also non-GMO and has the added appeal of being free from common allergies like soy, dairy and gluten. The company claims that CP-Pro 70 has a neutral taste and is versatile enough to be used to make a variety of hot and cold vegan products, from ice cream to burgers to mayonnaise.

So far, products using CP-Pro 70 have launched in Israel, Europe, and the U.S. Innovopro is also developing an organic version of CP-Pro 70 as well as a Chickpea Starch product.

InnovoPro isn’t the only chickpea protein peddler on the block. Last year ChickP, also based in Israel, unveiled a 90 percent chickpea-based protein intended to go into dairy alternatives like milk and yogurt. In the U.S., Nutriati and ProEarth are both making chickpea powder for a variety of food and bev use cases.

It’s no wonder that chickpeas are having a bit of a moment in the alt-protein space. Most raw ingredients for plant-based meat and dairy — soy, wheat, and nuts — are major allergens. Chickpeas and pea protein, however, are not. They’re also cheap, plentiful, and a familiar product for consumers who might shy away from edgier ingredients, like air protein or grasshoppers.

InnovoPro will use its new funds to expand its B2B partners. We’ll see if it can establish a firm foothold in the alternative protein market before the other chickpea companies edge them out.

InnovoPro Raises $4.25M to Bulk Up its Chickpea Protein

You’re hard-pressed to find a space undergoing more innovation right now than protein. Long gone are the days of steak and eggs being the best way to protein up. In addition to soy, whey, wheat, pea and even cricket-based protein varietals, there is also chickpeas.

Israel-based InnovoPro announced yesterday that it has raised a $4.25 million Series A funding round to power up production of its vegan chickpea protein powder. The round was led by Migros, Switzerland’s largest retailer, and Erel Margalit of Jerusalem Venture Partners.

InnovoPro says that its product, CP-Pro 70 chickpea protein, is Non-GMO, is not listed as an allergen, and is soy, dairy and gluten-free. The company also says its product can be used in a variety of hot or cold applications like egg-free mayonnaise, vegan ice cream, or vegan burgers.

Getting more protein in your diet can be fraught with ethical and environmental hurdles. Meat consumption isn’t great for the planet, while soy, almond and whey derivatives have their own negative environmental impacts as well. InnovoPro says that its production of chickpea protein “is green, clean and eco-friendly.” (It also doesn’t contain, you know, insects, which might be a turn off for some many people.)

Regardless of whether that eco claim turns out to be completely true, InnovoPro is hitting the market at a good time. Plant-based food sales grew more than 20 percent over the past year, hitting $3.3 billion. In addition to the environmental and health reasons people may have moving to more of a plant-based diet, the plant-based products themselves have also gotten more palatable and delicious. Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods both make an excellent, plant-based “burger,” Seattle Food Tech creates a convincing “chicken nugget” made from wheat protein, and Exo makes a protein bar made from crickets.

In addition to competition from other forms of protein, InnovoPro will need to fend off other established rivals in the same space, as Nutriati and ProEarth are already in the the chikpea protein biz.

Can InnovoPro carve out it’s own market amidst all this competition? We’ll know soon enough as the first products made with InnovoPro’s protein will hit the market next year.