Scottish fungi protein spinout raises £34m

Fungi-sourced protein company Enough has secured €40m (£34.2m) in equity funding to double its headcount and scale up the business.

It has developed a mycoprotein called “ABUNDA” that can be used as an ingredient in plant-based alternative products. Enough says this contains all nine essential amino acids and has high amounts of protein and fibre.

ABUNDA is created when grain sugar is given to fungi, and then fermented. The resulting mycoprotein can be used in meat, fish or dairy replacements.

The Glasgow-headquartered food tech company claims its protein reduces the amount of water required in the process by 93%, feed by 97%, and CO2 emissions down by 97% compared to beef protein.

Enough, which was founded in 2015 as a spinout from the University of Strathclyde, has a London commercial hub and two factories in the Netherlands. It has 55 employees across these locations and intends to double that figure over the next year.

Jim Laird, chief executive and founder of Enough, said: “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.”

The company’s first factory began growing fungi protein last year. It is aiming to produce 10,000 tonnes a year initially, before scaling up to 60,000 tonnes – or equal to a cow’s protein content every couple of minutes.

Enough has a target of manufacturing a million tonnes collectively by 2032.

At its Glasgow headquarters, the food tech business has a farm and kitchen” R&D centre, where there is a smaller set up of its factory to make ABUNDA.

“The company is tackling crucial bottlenecks in the creation of sustainable protein, whilst using fewer resources and maintaining a zero-waste process,” said World Fund managing partner Craig Douglas, “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.”

The latest funding round came from lead investors World Fund and CPT Capital.

Previous backers AXA IM Alts, HAL Investments, Onassis Group, Tailored Solutions and Scottish Enterprise returned for an extra slice.

So far Enough has been served more than €95m (£81.1m) by investors.