Finnish food technology startup Happy Plant Protein, a spinout from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, raised EUR 1.8 million in pre-seed funding led by Nordic Foodtech VC, with Butterfly Ventures and Business Finland also participating through a grant. The company will use the funding to further develop and license its patented technology.

Happy Plant Protein is commercializing a manufacturing process that can produce high-quality plant protein ingredients with a 70-80% protein content. The method can be used with existing machinery and without needing to overcome time-consuming regulatory hurdles. This in turn enables fast development of new products and fast market entry. Furthermore, it can empower local food manufacturers and brands to produce their plant protein, removing reliance on overseas sources.

Current methods to produce plant protein isolates do not meet the demands of the food industry or consumers due to high pricing of materials and the end-products sold in grocery stores. Simply establishing a protein isolate factory takes 100 million euros. Traditional processes to produce isolates also use huge amounts of energy and water. To produce just one kilogram of protein isolate, existing production lines use 14 MJ of energy. The method developed by Happy Plant Protein reduces energy usage to one-seventh of the isolate process and cuts down the investment required. Furthermore, the process is chemical-free, uses almost no water and generates no waste.

“There is a need for cost-efficient, environmentally sustainable methods to produce high-quality protein ingredients. 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,” says Jari Karlsson, CEO and co-founder of Happy Plant Protein.

Extrusion plants, which are the basis of Happy Plant Protein technology, already exist worldwide with more than 5,000 extruder lines in use in the food industry.

The technology's potential extends beyond mere cost savings. High-quality plant protein could be produced locally without huge investment, which makes it accessible to small local mills and food manufacturers, as well as big global food brands.

Happy Plant Protein aims to license the technology to food manufacturers worldwide.