Fortissimo Capital invests US$4 million in tech seed breeding company Equinom

19 Oct 2017 --- Israeli-based private equity fund Fortissimo Capital has invested US$4 million in Equinom, an Israeli-based technology seed-breeding company focused on the development of specialized crops for the food industry. This has been announced as the first installment of Fortissimo's investment as part of the third funding round of Equinom.

Equinom, which was founded in 2012, has previously raised a total of US$2.25 million from Hazera (1939) Ltd., a leader in seed development and field crops, and private investors Michael and Gabriel Danziger, owners of The Danziger Group.

Increase in protein levels
Equinom’s advanced breeding technology is based on proprietary algorithms and calculation methods developed by the company, which combines classic breeding with genomic and bioinformatics methods, the press release announcing the investment notes. The company’s primary products are high-protein legumes and sesame seeds for oil and tahini.

Equinom has developed legume seed varieties – pea, chickpea and cowpea – containing 50 percent more protein than any commercial variety available on the market. In a market challenged by the growing worldwide demand for sustainable, non-GMO, plant-based protein sources, the press release notes that an increase in protein levels represents a significant financial gain to protein processors and food companies.

Equinom’s second product line, sesame for oil and tahini, transforms the economics of the sesame market by “solving a problem that has troubled the world of agriculture for decades”: despite worldwide sales of sesame exceeding US$8 billion annually, the necessity of manual harvesting has limited the supply of sesame to third-world countries where manual labor is available on a large scale.

Addressing this challenge, it is noted that Equinom developed high-yield sesame varieties suitable for mechanical harvesting, thus opening the supply chain to production anywhere in the world. Equinom’s sesame is in pre-commercial stages in the US and Australia and is expected to hit the market in 2019.

To date, Equinom has signed a number of breeding contracts with leaders in the food industry, including a multi-year contract with Sabra Dipping Company, LLC, a joint venture of PepsiCo, Inc., and the Strauss Group Ltd.

Dr. Gil Shalev, Equinom’s founder and CEO told FoodIngredientsFirst: “The global plant protein market is witnessing significant growth as the demand for sustainable, non-GMO, plant-based food sources increases worldwide. With soy no longer dominating the market, legume-based proteins, specifically pea proteins, are becoming key ingredients in the new applications that represent the foods of the future. Equinom taps into this trend by offering the supply chain a raw material which contains 50 percent more protein than market standards.”

“Equinom contributes towards a sustainable future for the world’s food supply by increasing the amount of protein grown per hectare of land, by creating seeds that are higher in their nutritional factors and health benefits, and by delivering an innovative high-quality ingredient the food applications of the future,” explains Dr. Shalev.

“Using the technology developed by Equinom, we significantly increased the level of protein in legumes, and are contributing to creating market conditions that will eventually lower the cost of legume-based protein, and create food alternatives based on sustainable, non-GMO, sources,” says Dr. Shalev.

“The investment from Fortissimo gives Equinom financial backing, allowing us to both continue accelerating the development of seeds and their commercialization in the USA and Australia. Equinom continues to create new plant-based proteins, and I believe that we are only a few years away from introducing new products that will allow the creation of the world’s future foods on a mass-market scale,” he notes.

Yuval Cohen, Founder and Managing Partner at Fortissimo Capital, sees the investment as part of the firm’s overall investment strategy in agriculture in general and seed companies in particular, which also included an investment in Origene Seeds: “Equinom has proved that with the implementation of ground-breaking, non-GMO technology, it is possible to achieve what was once considered impossible in seed breeding. Fortissimo is committed to stand by Equinom on the journey to realizing the company’s vision of creating the foods of the future.”

By Paul Creasy