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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

InnovoPro

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.