Solving the plant protein puzzle: Indian start-up selected for accelerator program to boost future food

01 Feb 2021 --- Indian food technology start-up Proeon has been selected for Food Tech Studio - Bites! – a global accelerator program by Scrum Ventures to support emerging and “out-of-the-box sustainable food solutions.”

Proeon innovates plant protein ingredients that are highly suitable for creating food applications such as plant-based meat, plant-based milk and other dairy products, as well as plant-based egg-replacement and protein supplements.

Proeon received accolades at the ET Power of Ideas 2018, the SAP Innocity Challenge 2019, and the OHSSAI Excellence & Sustainability Award 2019.

Its current products include Amaranth Protein, hemp seed protein, mung bean protein, fava bean protein and chickpea protein.

Developing meat and dairy alternatives
Proeon’s ingredients have superior nutritional value, functional profile, taste and flavor, which makes it easy for plant-based food manufacturers to make premium products and take them to market quickly, notes the company.

Launched last September, Food Tech Studio - Bites! aims to create a global community of disruptive start-ups across all stages to optimize, augment and streamline the food development ecosystem.

This program’s key objectives are to address the food industry’s pressing problems, such as health, safety and wastage.

Sustainable food value chain
Proeon’s novel approach to solve the global protein puzzle by sourcing high-quality and sustainable plant proteins, gentle extraction and processing, and protein conditioning to enhance nutrition, sensory, functional and organoleptic properties aligns perfectly with the program’s mandate.

It is backed by leading incubators and innovation centers in India like CIIE-IIM Ahmedabad, CSIR-CFTRI Mysore and NCL -Venture Center Pune.

Proeon develops plant protein ingredients suitable for creating food applications such as plant-based meat, plant-based milk and plant-based egg-replacement and protein supplements.Between last September to December, the accelerator received hundreds of applications from food start-ups across 30 countries in five key categories – Wellness and Health, Next-Gen Foods and Functional Foods, Supply Chain and Logistics, At-Home and Consumer-Focused Technologies and Sustainability.

Proeon is among the hand-picked start-ups selected by the organizing committee, making them eligible for mentorship by global food science leaders such as Akiko Okada, Hajime Yoneda, Michael Wolf, Shin-ichi Ishikawa and Sara Roversi, as well as other eminent innovation experts and investor-mentors.

Proeon will now join other selected teams to participate in the next phase of the accelerator, where the start-ups will be connected with leading corporations and industry thought-leaders from Japan and the US. This will help the company realize top-line growth opportunities in Japan, the US and around the world.

Among the leading partners of this program are frontrunners like Nissin, Fuji Oil, Ito En, Otsuka, Juchheim and Nichirei.

Boosting plant-based proteins
“Japan has long been at the top of our mind for market expansion and growth since the country is at the forefront of innovation in food and nutrition. The Food Tech Studio - Bites! program provided an opportunity to partner with the best Japanese corporations to co-create innovative and sustainable food products and solutions,” says Ashish Korde, co-founder of Proeon.

“It also gave us an opportunity to learn about the innovation and quality benchmarks required by the Japanese quality standards, which are some of the finest in the world,” he notes.

Kevin Parekh, Korde’s business partner and co-founder of Proeon, adds how the company believes that new and unexplored plant proteins sources, coupled with strong R&D at the ingredient level, are the keys to solving the world’s protein problem.

“Proeon is committed to innovation in these areas. To achieve this, we are eager to collaborate with leading B2C food brands early on during their product development by customizing and co-creating solutions that mitigate formulation and production challenges at ingredient level. In the end, we all want to ensure that consumers get healthier, tastier, and clean label products, and hence, we are all in this together,” he says.

Indian innovation
Sharing his thoughts on selection of India-headquartered Proeon for this program, Varun Deshpande, managing director at The Good Food Institute India, adds: “In leveraging our unique biodiversity, agricultural supply chains, and entrepreneurial dynamism, Indian innovators have the potential to advance the global state of the plant-based foods sector. Proeon is emblematic of that innovation in plant protein ingredients.”

“We hope to see a slew of products using their expertise and ingredients in the market in the coming months, advancing us toward a more sustainable, secure, and just protein supply. We foresee a domino effect on cutting edge innovation as a result of the inputs they receive in this program, and on further business relationships between India and Japan in the future.”

“Proeon has been spreading its footprint worldwide by collaborating with globally renowned multinationals and start-ups by creating unprecedented value in the sustainable and healthy protein space in India, Europe, South East Asia and North America.”

Proeon also collaborates with leading global research institutes in the plant proteins space to improve the functionality and sensory profile of their ingredients.

“Gaining access to cutting edge research, a competent talent pool, and state-of-the-art infrastructure has been a boon to accelerate our solution development and create an internal knowledge bank,” concludes Parekh.

By Gaynor Selby

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