Investments & Finance

UAE Plant-Based Kids’ Food Startup Sprout Raises $200K For Retail Expansion

Sprout, a children’s food startup in the United Arab Emirates, has received $200,000 USD in funding from Bahrain-based FA Holding. It will use the funding for retail expansion.

Sprout was founded in 2019 by biochemist Oz Erbas and marketing technologist Katerina Papatryfon. It claims to be the first completely plant-based children’s food company in the UAE.

The brand’s products are made entirely using unprocessed plant foods, and most ingredients are organic and locally-sourced. The meals are available for delivery all across the UAE, with options for both toddlers and older children.

The company says it is also developing an app that uses artificial intelligence to help parents feed their children a healthy, balanced diet.

Al Islami burger
© Al Islami Foods

Interest in plant-based diets is growing in the UAE, with supermarket chain Spinneys launching an initiative in January to encourage consumers to eat more plant foods. Plant-based companies such as Fazenda Futuro and VBites have recently launched in the country, as well as vegan cheese company Nafsika’s Garden. Even halal meat company Al Islami has introduced a plant-based burger.

“We are no longer in the experimental stage where plant protein food sources are a gimmick or something quaint,” Jacek Plewa, General Manager of plant-based UAE brand Healthy Farm, said in February last year. “These alternatives are impressively gaining preference across the globe as consumers recognize the tangible impact left by nutrition choices on health, wellness, the environment, and animal welfare. Bearing this in mind we anticipate that 15 to 20 percent of meat consumption in UAE and the region will plant-based by 2025.”

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