Scottish biotech Enough raises €40M to scale its plant-based protein production

Glasgow biotech firm Enough produces a sustainable protein used in alternative meat and dairy products, it comes from fermenting fungi. Although using alternative protein sources for meatless products is nothing new, Enough feels they have hit a sweet spot as their technology allows then to produce protein in higher quantities, therefore lowering costs.

It produces mycoprotein by feeding fungi with sugars from sustainably sourced grain and fermenting like beer or wine is. This process creates Abunda - a high in protein and fibre food alternative which contains all nine essential amino acids and has a neutral flavour that can be used to create plant-based meat, fish and dairy products. It says that Abunda is up to fifteen times more efficient than protein from beef. There is zero-waste production and it uses 97% fewer CO2 emissions than producing protein from beef.

It has raised €40 million in growth funding in a round funding co-led by World Fund and CPT Capital. Others participating in the round are AXA IM Alts through the Axa Impact Fund, HAL Investments through 280ppm, Onassis Group through Olympic Investments Inc, Tailored Solutions and Scottish Enterprise.

“We’re delighted to be supporting Enough as they scale up to become the global leader in sustainable protein. The company is tackling crucial bottlenecks in the creation of sustainable protein, whilst using fewer resources and maintaining a zero-waste process, which is enabling Enough to have a lower carbon footprint compared to other plant-based protein sources, whilst producing at scale and providing supply security to a growing market. It helps that the products featuring Abunda are delicious too. Enough’s work has the potential to help combat food scarcity, reduce the use of resources in the food industry and reduce emissions on a global scale and we look forward to working with Jim and the team to help them achieve this,” says Craig Douglas, Founding Partner at World Fund.

Enough recently opened a first-of-its-kind protein factory in Sas van Gent, Netherlands, to create Abunda at scale. Initially, the factory will produce 10,000 metric tonnes of Abunda per year, with plans to scale up to produce more than 60,000 tonnes per year - the equivalent of growing one cow’s worth of protein every two minutes.

“Enough has made great strides in the past few years to launch our new factory in the Netherlands and scale up to work with customers across the UK and Europe. With this new funding, we will accelerate that growth. The alternative protein market is a multi-billion dollar opportunity, and the ethical and environmental reasons to embrace non-animal protein sources are more pressing than ever. We’re delighted to be leading this food revolution with our proprietary Abunda mycoprotein. We’re excited to welcome our new investors World Fund and look forward to working closely with them on the next phase of growth for Enough,” says Jim Laird, founder and CEO of Enough.