Equinom, an Indianapolis-based ingredient company, received a $35m tranche of funding.
The raise, which brings the total funding for Equinom to over $71m to date, was led by Synthesis Capital, a global food technology and alternative protein investor, with additional investment from Praesidium, Bunge Ventures, the for-profit global investment arm of Bunge, BayWa, CPT Capital and returning investors Fortissimo and Phoenix.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the commercialization of its plant-based protein ingredients which will be sold to food companies via established multinational ingredient suppliers, to invest in seed development and grain production of their high protein varieties of non-GMO soy and pea, and add key personnel and research and development into ongoing breeding programs for additional protein source crops including chickpea, fava, mung bean, and cowpea.
Led by Gil Shalev, co-founder and CEO, Equinom uses its Manna™ technology platform and vast seed vault to restore natural biodiversity to the existing food supply – by breeding higher quality, non-GMO source crops optimized for food that require minimal processing. With expertise in food, technology and agriculture, the company breeds new non-GMO varieties of the plant-based food industry’s primary source crops including pea and soy, optimized specifically for food, so they require minimal processing, thereby improving taste and nutrition and reducing cost and complexity. The company’s proprietary Manna™ technology platform uses advanced algorithms to characterize the biochemical and genomic traits in a vast array of seed varieties, enabling the development of new ingredients with desirable traits for food production (such as mild taste, light color, high protein, etc.) – all without genetic modification. As a result, these new minimally processed plant proteins enable food companies to develop offerings that meet consumer demand for tastier and more affordable sustainable alternatives to meat and dairy.
FinSMEs
12/12/2022