Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Promyc (A circular fungi-based high-protein feed solution for aquaculture)
Berichtszeitraum: 2019-12-01 bis 2020-04-30
Promyc is an innovative vegan protein ingredient that promises to revolutionize the food industry by providing a more sustainable alternative without compromising in taste, texture and gastronomic experience. The current trends in vegan and flexitarianism show how consumers worldwide are choosing to eat responsibly and care about reducing meat consumption in favour of plant-based alternatives. Through our food, and nominate meat consumption, we are using resources beyond the earth's limits, and consumers are more and more eager to chose resource-efficient choices, but are right now only offered similar products based on mostly soy and pea protein. Produced through fungi fermentation, Promyc is an extremely resource-efficient protein source, with a neutral taste and a natural texture. Compared to soy production, it emits 30% less CO2e, consumes 7X less water and 9X less land. Furthermore, its natural texture and umami tones reflect the mouthfeel of real meat better than textured soy products.
Promyc can be produced through a standard process using readily available raw materials sourced locally, but also, it has the possibility of a complete circular production with added sustainability benefits. With a complete circular production, it is possible to use side streams from the food industry that have low or zero value and grow the fungi-based ingredient from it, in this way effectively using resources that would otherwise go to waste.
In this project, we have validated and executed numerous feasibility studies of using Promyc as a vegan food ingredient, both technically but also in terms of market suitability, customer acceptance and economic feasibility.
Promyc can be produced through a standard process using readily available raw materials sourced locally, but also, it has the possibility of a complete circular production with added sustainability benefits. With a complete circular production, it is possible to use side streams from the food industry that have low or zero value and grow the fungi-based ingredient from it, in this way effectively using resources that would otherwise go to waste.
In this project, we have validated and executed numerous feasibility studies of using Promyc as a vegan food ingredient, both technically but also in terms of market suitability, customer acceptance and economic feasibility.
During the project, we have revamped our business model. Where our focus used to be the use of fungi as a protein component for animal feeding, we have now completely focused on its applications as a food product. This change was the result of a successful validation experiment with customers and potentially interested partners, that elevated the product potential and value. We presented our new go-to-market strategy to align with this aspect.
Further on, we have carried a market analysis of mycoprotein as a food product and validated customer interest which resulted in numerous companies interested in pursuing the use of promyc for developing innovative products. We currently have ongoing discussions for codevelopment with these companies. We constructed a full product roadmap to align with our go-to-market strategy and have also now developed prototype products to create technical validation of using Promyc mycoprotein as a pleasant and well accepted food product ingredient.
We have analyzed also the economical and financial feasibility of this product, estimating production costs as a function of scaling up, and predictions of possible market entry prices and margins involved. We have identified and cleared regulatory hurdles to market entry and commercialization of promyc for food.
Further on, we have carried a market analysis of mycoprotein as a food product and validated customer interest which resulted in numerous companies interested in pursuing the use of promyc for developing innovative products. We currently have ongoing discussions for codevelopment with these companies. We constructed a full product roadmap to align with our go-to-market strategy and have also now developed prototype products to create technical validation of using Promyc mycoprotein as a pleasant and well accepted food product ingredient.
We have analyzed also the economical and financial feasibility of this product, estimating production costs as a function of scaling up, and predictions of possible market entry prices and margins involved. We have identified and cleared regulatory hurdles to market entry and commercialization of promyc for food.
We foresee Promyc to be on market trials as soon as 2020, with own projects to validate consumer reactions in a real scenario (supermarket shelves). This momentum will result in launching the first larger-scale Promyc product trials together with a partner by 2021, which by then we expect to build our first industrial-scale production facility to keep up with the scale needed. Promyc will then transition to a status of an ingredient present in multiple brands, from which market, industrial and application expansions can further occur. Each unit of Promyc that replaces a meat or soy-based meal will positively impact our resource usage, and we expect millions of liters of water and million tons of CO2 to be saved by replacing as little as 0.1% of the current Swedish soy consumption.