Happy Plant Protein, a spinout from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, has raised €1.8 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Nordic Foodtech VC. The round also saw participation from Butterfly Ventures and Business Finland via a grant.
The funding will be used to further develop and license Happy Plant Protein’s patented technology, which allows for the production of high-quality plant proteins with existing extrusion machinery. The technology could empower local food manufacturers and brands to produce their own plant proteins, removing the need for imports. This would make plant proteins available with only minor investments and no regulatory hurdles, accelerating new product development and market entry.
The process is also significantly more affordable than conventional methods of manufacturing plant protein isolates, since it avoids the need to establish a dedicated facility (costing around €100 million) and uses far less energy and water. Traditional production lines reportedly use 14 MJ of energy to produce a single kilogram of protein isolate, but Happy Plant Protein claims that its process uses just one-seventh of this amount. The technology also requires almost no water and generates no waste.
Ensuring food security
“Happy Plant Protein is the latest in the line-up of VTT spin-offs contributing to a more sustainable and resilient food system,” said Tiina Nakari-Setälä, Vice President and leader of VTT’s biotechnology and food research area. “The technology and the new company stem from VTT’s long-term research excellence in plant protein ingredients, underlining the importance of persistent RDI investments. Our goal at VTT is to create global and national impact with our research, as well as to create new deep-tech startups.”
Happy Plant Protein plans to license its technology to extrusion facilities worldwide. There are over 5,000 extrusion lines in the global food industry, which could adopt the company’s process to slash the investment and operating costs of plant protein production by up to 90%. Consequently, production may become affordable for small manufacturers, who could use locally grown crops.
“There is a need for cost-efficient, environmentally sustainable methods to produce high-quality protein ingredients,” said Jari Karlsson, CEO and co-founder of Happy Plant Protein. “Ensuring food security while making food manufacturing more sustainable, we must find new, more efficient ways to produce food. The approach uses standard extrusion to extract high-quality plant protein from legumes, such as peas, lentils, and cereals. The protein ingredients produced in this process can then be incorporated into many plant-based food products.”
