Pune based food ingredient start-up Proeon, has recently raised $2.4 million as seed capital. The funding round, led by entrepreneur Shaival Desai, also saw participation from Flowstate Ventures, Peak Sustainability Venture Fund I (executed by Samir Shah on behalf of the Fund), Waoo Partners (Pratul Shroff family office), and other angel investors.
Existing investor Sanjaya Mariwala, MD of OmniActive Health Technologies Limited also participated in this round.
The funds will be utilized to enhance growth and set up a research lab in the Netherlands, Europe, filing IP, scaling up production and expanding the team.
Specialized in high quality plant protein ingredient innovation, Proeon was founded in 2018 by Ashish Korde and Kevin Parekh to promote clean and healthy food for “people, planet, and conscience”. The company helps solve critical formulation challenges at the ingredient level, making it easier for food companies to make tastier and healthier plant-based meat, dairy, and egg replacement products.
Kevin Parekh and Ashish Korde said, “We are at the centre of creating next-gen plant protein ingredients and are delighted with the trust shown by our investors. We are working towards creating food products that are hassle-free to formulate, and are loved by consumers. Our immediate focus would be expanding presence in the markets of North America and Europe, where the shift to plant proteins is accelerating at an unprecedented pace.”
With the plant-based proteins sector projected to reach nearly $200 billion by 2027, the founders have struck a chord in the global food industry as food manufacturers are aiming to capture the new market being created.
Shaival Desai, who has also invested in startups such as Licious, Peesafe, said, “We're really happy to have partnered with Proeon in their journey to innovate in the alternative proteins space.”
“Proeon’s technology will have a major societal impact by solving climate change and nutrition challenges of today. The team has demonstrated exceptional technical and strategic capabilities, and is strongly positioned for exponential growth.” added Anjani Bansal, Founder – Flowstate Angel Investment Fund.
“Replacing meat with plant based alternatives is a critical part of the planet’s journey towards sustainable survival over the next few decades . Proeon’s plant-based protein will play an important role in achieving that sustainability, '' said Pratul Shroff.
Currently, the company is working with brands from Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia to build more sustainable and healthier plant-based alternatives such as highly functional plant-based egg-replacement products, clean-label burgers, patties, and alternative dairy products. In collaboration with their partners and customers, they are also aiming to save more than 170 billion liters of water and eliminate about 150 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions by replacing wasteful, animal-based foods with plant-based alternatives, they said.
