Roquette Ventures, a French investment company, has invested in Magellan Life Sciences Ltd., a UK-based biotech company that develops plant proteins through a fermentation process. This partnership aims at accelerating the market entry of new protein sweeteners.

The seed round was led by Roquette Ventures and completed with investments from US-based SOSV and three European business angel investors. 

The current funding round will be used to optimize and scale up the protein sweeteners’ manufacturing process. 

New generation sweeteners
Magellan Life Sciences has previously developed a unique proprietary expression and fermentation platform to produce new protein sweeteners.

The protein sweeteners are promising proteins for the F&B industries. They taste almost identical to sucrose with a much higher sweetening power, the company notes.

Moreover, they have no undesirable aftertaste and are stable under various thermal and chemical conditions. They contribute negligible calories at the intended usage levels while still maintaining the sweetness profile required by the applications and formulations. 

Global health in the spotlight 
According to Edouard Nuttin, general manager of Roquette Ventures, Magellan’s protein sweeteners have “a tremendous potential” to meet consumers’ increasing demand for healthier alternatives to sugar. 

“When we heard about Magellan Life Sciences and its work on protein sweeteners, we found a total match with that mission and quickly decided to help accelerate the development of these products to an industrial scale.”

In the context of global health challenges such as the rise of sugar-related diseases like diabetes or obesity, alternative protein sweeteners are a viable source, he adds. 

“Roquette Ventures’ core mission is to invest in pioneer innovations for food, nutrition and health markets.”

“We are thrilled to have Roquette Ventures, SOSV and the angel investors invest in Magellan,” says Abhiram Dukkipati, co-founder and CEO of Magellan. 

“There is a global emphasis on using plant-inspired proteins to meet food and beverage markets’ expectations. Within this theme, Magellan addresses the important issue of sugar reduction by providing alternatives to carbohydrates with new protein sweeteners.”

“This round of funding will allow us to expand our R&D team and scale our proprietary manufacturing process,” notes Dukkipati.

Scaling natural ingredients
Proteins developed by fermentation methods have gathered speed in the last 12 months.

Last November, The Protein Brewery – which makes a protein called Fermotein from sugar beets, potatoes and corn as an alternative to animal variants – netted €22 million (US$25.7 million) Series A investment for biosynthesized alternative proteins.

The investment round was led by Novo Holdings and joined by new investors Roquette Ventures and Unovis Asset Management. 

In July 2018, FoodIngredientsFirst spoke with Dukkipati, who revealed that Magellan Life Sciences was scaling up its production of brazzein through its patent-pending fermentation process. Using an FDA-approved microorganism strain and food-grade chemicals, Magellan Life Sciences developed a unique process that promises commercial quantities of brazzein that are “identical to nature.”