Nandi: investment from Nesta & Scottish Enterprise

Portfolio news - Nandi Proteins secures investment from Nesta and Scottish Enterprise as part of £500,000 funding round

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, today announces that portfolio company Nandi Proteins ("Nandi" or the "Company") has raised more than £500,000 via a convertible loan with investors including Nesta and Scottish Enterprise.

The move is part of wider funding initiative aimed at raising a total of about £1.5 million for the Company. Nesta Impact Investments (NII), the investment arm of UK social innovation agency Nesta, has also committed to back an equity funding round, which is expected to complete later this year and which aims to raise a further £1 million. Frontier IP holds a 19.7% per cent equity stake in Nandi.

Nandi intends to use the funding to support development of its egg white replacer, which has attracted strong interest from the baking and meat alternative industries. Earlier this year, Nandi signed a commercial license with a leading global food ingredients business who will take Nandi's meat/fat replacer to market worldwide once scale up and final application tests have been completed successfully.

Nandi's meat and fat replacers are based on collagen. The Company uses vegetable proteins to replace egg whites in a range of products, including gluten-free bread and muffins. Replacing egg whites in meat alternatives means vegetarian products can be sold as vegan.

Other applications for its innovative technology being developed by Nandi include:

• vegetable proteins to replace methylcellulose a widely used binder in plant based meat alternatives
• whey proteins to replace chemical emulsifiers in baked products

John Loder, investment director at Nesta Impact Investments, said: "Through pioneering ways to reduce the fat with lower calorie ingredients in popular foods, Nandi Proteins has the potential to help reduce the UK's stubbornly high obesity rates. Nesta Impact Investments is committed to finding innovative ways to help halve obesity, aligning closely with Nandi's commercial egg and meat replacements for baking recipes, sausages and burgers, which in some cases halve the fat content. We are excited to support Nandi as it develops its business further."

Kerry Sharp, Director of Entrepreneurship and Investment, Scottish Enterprise, said: "As an existing investor we are pleased to support Nandi Proteins as it makes real progress towards commercialising its innovative protein technology."

David Flower, Chief Executive Officer of Nandi Proteins, said: "We are delighted with this funding from Nesta and Scottish Enterprise, and Nesta's commitment to invest in our equity raise. It provides further validation for our innovative food ingredient technology following our success in completing a global license of our first product that will be taken to market by a major industry supplier."

Neil Crabb, Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer, said: "Nandi's technology has huge potential to replace undesirable ingredients used widely in the food industry. We very much welcome the support from Nesta, the UK government fund for social good, which underlines the value of the Company's work."

About Nesta Impact Investments

Nesta Impact Investments provides financial, knowledge and network capital to innovative tech ventures that are changing the world for good. We look to back businesses in edtech, foodtech, healthtech, climate tech, the future of work and productivity, that are closely aligned to Nesta's mission impact goals:

• sustainable future: To accelerate the decarbonisation of UK households and raise productivity in ways that advance the transition to net zero. Our focus at the moment is on reducing domestic energy consumption, supporting SMEs to adopt green technology and supporting the upskilling needed for a green economy.
• A healthy life: To increase the average number of healthy years lived in the UK, while narrowing health inequalities. Our focus at the moment is on reducing obesity. This includes new food tech, novel ingredients, healthy brands and helping people access healthy foods, as well as relevant behavioural and health tech.
• A fairer start: To narrow the education outcome gap between children growing up in disadvantage and the national average. We look for solutions that deliver high-quality, affordable provision and workforce development. We are also looking at financial inclusion solutions which can reduce stress on families who can then better support the home learning environment.

About Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Enterprise (SE) is Scotland's national economic development agency and a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It supports businesses to innovate and scale to transform the Scottish economy by focusing on new market opportunities through targeted investment, innovation and internationalisation. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.

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