Foodtech startup Yeasty has just raised €1.4 million for its circular approach to alt-protein which uses leftover brewer’s yeast. The Paris-based team will now industrialize the production of its protein product, enabling a new generation of meat alternatives and high-protein substitutions.
In the food space, there are two influential trends – the move to a more sustainable diet and the growing importance of protein. Coupling the two is the need to generate protein alternatives at scale, that combine nutritional goodness with plant-positive sustainability.
Paris-based Yeasty might just have blended the perfect brew, and have just snapped up capital funding to develop its alt-protein product.
The details
- €1.4 million raised in a round led by Asterion Ventures
- Satgana and Caméléon Invest also participated
- Over 40 business angels invested through Asterion, including Cédric Sellin, Clément Alteresco (Morning coworking), Anne Carole Coen (Swile).
Meeting challenges at all angles
Founded in 2021, by Juan Londono, Nikola Stefanovic and Mathieu Durand, Yeasty is aiming to shake up the foodtech space using beer. The journey started in a lab in 2020 at AgroParisTech and Genopole where Nikola and Mathieu began to look for a way to get rid of the bitterness of brewer’s yeast. They succeeded in finding a revolutionary process in 2021 and then launched.
Yeasty is not only bringing a sustainable product to food manufacturers, but it also aims to help brewers get rid of waste products. The startup takes unused brewer’s yeast and, by taking a circular approach that harnesses the full value chain of a product, turns it into an alt-protein source.
Therefore, the Paris-based team are meeting a twofold challenge, giving a chance to value a raw material that is unused and a source of environmental and economical costs, and for manufacturers, it is a unique opportunity to identify a better source of protein.
Juan Londono, co-founder of Yeasty: “Yeasty aims at becoming a leader in the alternative protein market by democratizing the most complete ingredient, with a low impact. Thanks to our unique technology, we are bringing value to an abundant by-product, and with the support of our investors, we will be able to accelerate our growth.”
Foodtech innovation is a tasty space to be in right now, with new innovative ideas creating alternative protein sources, dairy alternatives and ingredients that will shape the future of our diets – in a way that gives our growing population the nutrition it needs without inflicting damage on the planet.
Yeasty aims to offer a solution that holistically combines nutritional qualities, taste sustainability, and accessibility.
More than 30 players in the food industry have already praised Yeasty’s protein, and it’s got the attention of impact-driven investors, Satgana and Asterion.
Bérengère Lehembre at Asterion Ventures: “Asterion’s raison d’être, which brings together hundreds of French tech investors, is to finance and support startups that combine ambition and environmental impact. We are convinced of Yeasty’s enormous potential, which corresponds in every way to our thesis.”
The growing market for protein ingredients for human applications is expected to reach over €60 billion by 2026, giving Yeasty an exciting market potential. The startup wants to tap into a variety of players in the food industry – from catering to the vegan/flexitarian crowd, to sports and health nutrition. Aside from protein alternatives, it will also be used to create bread, protein starches, biscuits, alternative cheeses and eggs.
This fundraising will allow Yeasty to industrialize the production of samples that will enable food manufacturers to start testing recipes such as meat alternatives, pasta, high-protein biscuits or even sports bars or shakers. The company’s objective for 2025 is to build an industrial site with an annual capacity of 5,000 tons.
