Sustainable meat-free ingredients group Enough has raised €40m (£34.2m) in growth funding to boost capacity at its factory and produce more affordable plant-based products for the mass market.
Founded in 2015, the Glasgow-based company makes its trademarked Abunda mycoprotein for brands and white-label manufacturers serving retail, foodservice and fast food chains with plant-based meats and dairy products.
Enough claims Abunda is up to 15 times more efficient than other protein sources thanks to its proprietary technology and zero-waste production – using up to 93% less water, 97% less feed and causing 97% fewer CO2 emissions than beef.
The group operates from an R&D centre and development kitchen in Scotland and, in 2022, opened a “first-of-its-kind” factory in the Netherlands.
The €40m investment will be used to scale production at the European factory from current levels of 10,000 tonnes a year to more than 60,000.
Enough said this scale meant it could produce a meat-free protein source at lower cost, creating a cheaper plant-based alternative for consumers.
The round – which takes the total raised by Enough to in excess of €95m – was co-led by climate tech VC World Fund and food tech investor CPT Capital.
“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,” said CEO and co-founder Jim Laird.
“With this new funding, we will accelerate that growth.
“The alternative protein market is a multibillion-dollar opportunity, and the ethical and environmental reasons to embrace non-animal protein sources are more pressing than ever.”
Enough’s mycoprotein is produced by fermenting fungi using renewable feedstocks, such as wheat and corn. The business said the process created a high fibre and protein ingredient containing all nine essential amino acids and boasting a neutral flavour and meat-like texture.
Enough partnered with Unilever in 2021 to help the global consumer packaged goods giant bring plant-based products to market, such as for The Vegetarian Butcher, and it also works with the likes of M&S.
World Fund founding partner Craig Douglas said: “The company is tackling crucial bottlenecks in the creation of sustainable protein, whilst using fewer resources and maintaining a zero-waste process, 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.”
Harry Kalms of CPT Capital added: “Since our first investment five years ago, Enough has stood out as a company that is poised to make a meaningful positive impact on today’s unsustainable food system. Now, with the completion of their first industrial production facility and this growth financing round, Enough is leveraging its strong foundations to move into a new phase of large-scale commercialisation.”
Enough employs 56 staff, located in Scotland, England and the Netherlands, and plans to double the workforce in the next year.
Existing investors AXA IM Alts, HAL Investments, Onassis Group, Tailored Solutions and Scottish Enterprise all followed on in the latest funding round.
No comments yet