July 30, 2021

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Mexico’s Bimbo Group and the ICL Group have joined existing investors in Protera’s Series A round to bring the round to a final close at $10 million. 

Co-founded in 2015 by company CEO Leonardo Álvarez and company COO Francia Navarrete, Protera understands that the hard work that has gone into making enough food to meet the demands of a growing global population have led to unsustainable food systems.

The following year the company joined IndiBio, the Silicon Valley-based biology-focused accelerator. Since that time the company has developed its AI technology, becoming able to create functional, animal-free, and clean-label protein ingredients.

Based in Chile, Protera is advancing the science of protein engineering, designing and developing new alternative proteins through the power of AI. Using madi™, a proprietary deep learning algorithm that learns how biology builds proteins, Protera screens billions of amino acid combinations, predicting their properties. Compared to traditional methods of physically testing each potential protein, the power of AI identifies which proteins are the most likely to have the desired traits, creating a short list from the thousands of possibilities. The platform can then design proteins at a faster rate and with greater accuracy to serve as healthier and more sustainable ingredients.

“Protera’s unique platform – especially its focus on building a portfolio of clean-label food ingredients – has the potential to help ICL differentiate its future product offerings, as we focus on our long-term strategy dedicated to alternative proteins,” said Hadar Sutovsky, vice president, external innovation at ICL & general manager, ICL Planet.

GAI News first shared news of Protera’s Series A in June 2020. Led by European life sciences-focused VC firm Sofinnova Partners, and including SOSV, the round stood at $5.6 million at the time. With the addition of new investors to the round, the company has now announced a final close at nearly double the funding. 

“Protera’s technology aims to solve real challenges in the food sector, such as increasing the shelf life of bread, to diminish food waste and increase food security,” said Jose Manuel Ramirez, director, Bimbo Ventures. “We wish to support the company by testing and validating its technology.”

The Name of the Game

It’s going to take more than a global pandemic to slow alternative proteins.

Adam Bergman, managing director of EcoTech Capital, summed up this sentiment in his recent article, The Rise of Alternative Proteins published by GAI News in June of this year, saying, “I believe that alternative proteins (cellular-based, plant-based, and even bug-based) will continue gaining customers this decade, and sales will even accelerate in the 2030s as companies hone their products’ taste, texture, and costs.”

“This is because, despite all the advantages of incumbency, it is becoming clearer each day that the animal protein industry is on the brink of going the way of other once thriving industries, including horses for transportation, pigeons for communications, and whales for oil,” Bergman continued. “Technological revolutions shaped transportation, communications and energy, and now it is agriculture’s turn to be under the spotlight, and there is no reason to believe it will be any different this time. Technology is helping solve problems of health, nutrition, and environmental damage. With more consumers focusing on environmental sustainability, the case for alternative proteins is becoming more compelling.”

Demand for alternative proteins, particularly plant-based proteins, continues to grow. Between 2017 and 2019, U.S. consumer spending on plant-based foods increased by more than 28 percent, from $3.9 billion to $5 billion, according to data from The Good Food Institute. Of all categories, plant-based milks are the most developed, however, plant-based cheeses grew by 51 percent over this same time period, while Europe is seeing growth in its number of flexitarian eaters. 

Fundraising and deals within this category have been far too vast to list here. However, an example of how strong alternative proteins have become as an investment was demonstrated little more than a week ago when Nature’s Fynd announced it had closed on a $350 million Series C led by SoftBank that brought total funding to more than $500 million. 

The upheaval and uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 hasn’t slowed Protera either, which has seen a number of developments come to pass over the past year, including the addition of former Novozymes’ executive vice president Thomas Videbaek as chair of its Board of Directors and non-executive board member, and BASF veteran Dr. Oswaldo da Costa e Silva as non-executive director.

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.