The 15ᵉ investment from the Belgian impact fund is well worth a look: Canadian start-up New School Foods is recreating a whole salmon using plants.

 The food of the future will hold many surprises, judging by the new investment made by Belgian fund Newtree Impact. It has just acquired a stake in Canadian start-up New School Foods, as part of a €10.5 million round of funding. The business of this start-up consists of inventing plant-based alternatives to seafood products. With a flagship project already well advanced, the creation and subsequent marketing of a plant-based salmon… Yes, you’re right, we’ll soon be enjoying salmon fillets made entirely from plants.

New School Foods has already succeeded in creating this ‘plant-based’ salmon and has already tested it in a number of upmarket restaurants in Canada,” explains Benoît de Bruyn, CEO of New Tree Impact. The funds raised will be used to finance the construction of the factory that will produce it. Marketing is planned for 2024, starting with a series of restaurants in Canada and the United States.”

Three universities on the other side of the Atlantic were involved in developing the technology. It uses directional freezing. “In short, they build a plant structure into which they inject plant proteins under gel. They have patented this process, which is resolutely disruptive”. Alluding to competing developments, which use extrusion or three-dimensional printing, but which are proving more expensive and difficult to industrialise.

This enables us to reconstitute the filamentary and lamellar layer structure that characterises salmon fillets,” continues Benoît de Bruyn.

Three times less emissions

Other investors include Protein Industries Canada, one of the country’s five innovation clusters, which has contributed more than €4 million.

The agri-food sector alone accounts for a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and 90% of fish stocks are currently overexploited,” points out Benoît de Bruyn. It is essential to innovate with solutions that enable us to enjoy a quality culinary experience that is more respectful of the environment.” A vegetable salmon represents around three times less CO2 emissions than a real, conventionally farmed salmon.

“We are excited to bring this new product to market,” explains Chris Bryson, founder and CEO of New School Foods, in a press release. “As well as optimising our food processing technology, we are creating our own production line with the support of our partners. This will enable us to refine the quality of our product and reduce costs so that we can offer this new alternative to as many consumers as possible.”

Capital gain in sight for its stake in Protix

Newtree Impact also reported good news for its portfolio, which now comprises 15 holdings. The Dutch group Protix, which describes itself as the world leader in insect-based ingredients, has just signed a historic double deal with Tyson Foods, one of the world’s largest food companies. This American group has invested €55 million in Protix.

Thanks to this new investment, Protix will be able to accelerate its growth and build a second factory (after the one in Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands) in the United States. Although undisclosed, the valuation made of Protix on this occasion will be synonymous with what is said to be a “substantial” capital gain for Newtree.

Michel Lauwers

Published in L’Echo, 23rd of November 2023