August 21, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

The dietary needs of a global population numbering in the billions (and growing every day) need to be met – and met in ways that are sustainable, mitigate climate change, and are environmentally friendly. 

Answering the call is ENOUGH (formerly 3F BIO), an alternative protein and food tech startup that has developed ABUNDA mycoprotein – a sustainable, vegan protein created by fermenting fungi fed by renewable feedstocks.

In support, World Fund, Europe’s leading climate tech VC, and CPT Capital, a leading food tech investor, have co-led €40 million in growth funding for the company with additional participation from previous investors AXA IM Alts through the Axa Impact Fund, HAL Investments through 280ppm, Onassis Group through Olympic Investments Inc, Tailored Solutions, and Scottish Enterprise.

ENOUGH explained that in today’s world, the production of vast quantities of sustainable protein is one of our most urgent priorities. The environmental impacts of livestock agriculture, and how to mitigate the effects, are complex. About 15 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are caused by livestock and their production, however, this is just the beginning. There’s also the loss of biodiversity, water usage and pollution, soil degradation, monoculture agriculture to produce enough feed, among others.

Concurrently, interest in plant-based foods has created a demand that has increased in recent years, according to figures by BCG, which forecasts that the alternative protein market will reach a value of $290 billion by 2035, with a minimum of 10 percent of the meat, eggs, dairy, and seafood consumed globally coming from alternative sources. One hurdle continues to be a damper on the industry however, and that is the ability to scale. 

Founded in 2015 under its original name 3F Bio by Jim Laird, David Ritchie, and Craig Johnston (the name change occurred in 2021 to reflect the premise that “One Earth needs to be ENOUGH”), ENOUGH is pioneering high-scale, sustainable protein production to address the dual challenges of feeding the world and the unsustainable impacts of traditional protein production. 

The company’s cutting-edge technology enables the necessary large-scale, sustainable production by creating a core protein ingredient to power the worldwide production of alternative meats.

Its flagship product is ABUNDA – a complete mycoprotein made by feeding fungi with sugars from sustainably sourced grain which is then fermented as you would beer or wine. It contains all nine essential amino acids, has a high concentration of dietary fiber with an advantageous feed conversion rate, has a low carbon footprint and water usage, and can be used as a base for the production of meat, dairy, seafood, and dairy alternatives sold in leading supermarkets and fast food brands on a global scale. 

Due to ENOUGH’s proprietary technology and its zero-waste production methods, ABUNDA has been found to be 15 times more efficient than protein from beef, using up to 93 percent less water, 97 less feed, and causing 97 percent fewer CO2 emissions than beef production. 

ENOUGH recently opened a first-of-its-kind protein factory in Sas van Gent, Netherlands, designed to create ABUNDA at scale. Co-located alongside a Cargill facility, the location will ensure the most efficient feed source and support the zero-waste strategy of ENOUGH’s product. 

“Since our first investment five years ago, ENOUGH has stood out as a company that is poised to make a meaningful positive impact on today’s unsustainable food system,” said Harry Kalms, CPT Capital. “Now, with the completion of their first industrial production facility and this growth financing round, ENOUGH is leveraging its strong foundations to move into a new phase of large-scale commercialization.”

Initially, the plant will produce 10,000 metric tons of ABUNDA per year, but will ultimately scale up to more than 60,000 tons per year, or the equivalent of growing one cow’s worth of protein every two minutes. 

“ENOUGH has made great strides in the past few years to launch our new factory in the Netherlands and scale up to work with customers across the UK and Europe. With this new funding, we will accelerate that growth,” said Jim Laird, co-founder and CEO, ENOUGH. 

“The alternative protein market is a multi-billion dollar opportunity, and the ethical and environmental reasons to embrace non-animal protein sources are more pressing than ever. We’re delighted to be leading this food revolution with our proprietary ABUNDA® mycoprotein. We’re excited to welcome our new investors World Fund and look forward to working closely with them on the next phase of growth for ENOUGH.”

This new growth funding brings total capital raised by the company to-date to over €95 million, and will not only serve to scale up production capacity, but also will be used grow the company’s teams across its offices in Glasgow, London, and at Sas van Gent as it aims to cumulatively grow output to more than 1 million tons – the equivalent of replacing 5 million cows or over 1 billion chickens – by 2032. 

“We’re delighted to be supporting ENOUGH as they scale up to become the global leader in sustainable protein,” said Craig Douglas, founding partner, World Fund. “The company is tackling crucial bottlenecks in the creation of sustainable protein, whilst using fewer resources and maintaining a zero-waste process, which is enabling ENOUGH to have a lower carbon footprint compared to other plant-based protein sources, whilst producing at scale and providing supply security to a growing market.”

Douglas continued, “ENOUGH’s work has the potential to help combat food scarcity, reduce the use of resources in the food industry, and reduce emissions on a global scale and we look forward to working with Jim and the team to help them achieve this.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief 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 Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

*The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. All information or other material herein is not to be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.