By Sudip Kar-Gupta
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Food technology company ENOUGH, which has partnerships with Unilever (LON:ULVR) and Marks & Spencer, has raised 40 million euros ($43.5 million), attracting investment despite signs of a slowdown in the alternative meat and protein sector.
ENOUGH, which ferments fungi to produce protein for plant-based chicken, mince and dairy products, said the funding round was led by venture capital firm World Fund and CPT Capital, which was an early investor in Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) and has a stake in Upside Foods.
Other participants in the fund-raising for Britain- and Netherlands-based ENOUGH included existing investors such as AXA IM Alts and the Olympic Investments company of the Onassis shipping family.
"ENOUGH has made great strides in the past few years to launch our new factory in the Netherlands and scale up to work with customers across the UK and Europe," said CEO Jim Laird, a former chief executive of plant-based meat producer Quorn.
"With this new funding, we will accelerate that growth," he added.
Companies involved in producing alternative-sources of meat and protein say they are helping in the battle to protect the climate, since meat from a laboratory has less impact on the environment than traditional farming.
Nevertheless, there are signs that consumers' demand for plant-based meat may be waning, with Beyond Meat cutting its annual revenue forecast earlier this month.
($1 = 0.9194 euro)