Protealis, an AgriTech company based in Belgium, Ghent, is on a mission to bring sustainable protein crops back to Europe. This member of our Agri & Food Tech Group is working on developing sustainable plant-based proteins like soybeans and helping European farmers meet the demand for meat and dairy alternatives.
During the Scale 100 Forum that took place in October in Athens, we sat down with Benjamin Laga, the CEO and co-founder of Protealis. Listen to our interview here (or watch the video version below):
Soybean varieties bred up until now do not typically thrive in European soil and climate. Benjamin told us that Protealis is changing this by making soybean adaptable to be grown in Europe, much like corn in the 60s.
“Before the 1960s, corn was almost nonexistent here because it's a tropical plant. But through years of dedicated effort, people developed varieties of maize that could grow in our climate. Now, corn is a major crop. And we're doing exactly the same thing with soybeans.”
Protealis is also working on ways to optimise the cultivation of other leguminous crops, like yellow peas. In addition, the company also develops microbial inoculants. These beneficial microbes can infect plants and fix nitrogen, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. These microbes typically originate from tropical regions, but Protealis has selected strains from European soils that are adapted to be more suitable for European plants.
There are four global issues driving the company’s vision and purpose:
- Making the global protein supply chain more sustainable. As Benjamin puts it: “We're deforesting South America to grow more soybeans, then we ship them halfway across the globe, doubling the carbon footprint. And then we use them in the least sustainable way, as animal feed or as food for humans which leaves us with nitrogen issues.”
- Helping farmers bring diversity to their crop rotation by introducing a crop that is also helping to regenerate their soils. The soybean crop developed by Protealis doesn't require any mineral fertilizer, which also supports farmers, because prices of such fertilizers are very high.
- Supporting the European plant-based food industry that’s always looking for local, sustainable sources of protein.
- Fostering the geopolitical dependence of Europe. “We're 70% dependent on import of proteins to feed our population”, Benjamin explains. “After COVID and the war in Ukraine, European Commission is seriously reviewing our dependencies and how we can mitigate them.”
Benjamin Laga has over 20 years of experience in the international seed business and innovation. His deep expertise in plant biotechnology, honed at companies like Bayer and BASF, allows him to leverage cutting-edge breeding techniques at Protealis and accelerate the development of high-performing crop varieties.
Protealis’ second co-founder and Director of Breeding Jonas Aper has been in charge of the soy breeding program at Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) since its inception in 2013. His extensive work was incorporated into Protealis and is being continued there.
Protealis boasts a diverse team, comprised of seasoned industry veterans with extensive expertise and high-potential young professionals, whose career growth the company fosters. The company is also supported by an experienced board of directors.
Protealis' initial focus was on developing and demonstrating the feasibility of its technology by introducing its first six soybean varieties onto the market. This successful launch, as highlighted by Benjamin, is a significant milestone that proves Protealis' ability to deliver on its initial promises. The company has also successfully completed the research and development phase for its microbial inoculants, demonstrating proof of concept.
With its initial products on the market and prototypes for future products, Protealis is now transitioning from an R&D-focused organization to a more commercially driven entity. Given the strong R&D background of most of its team, this transition is challenging, but the team is confident about its success.
Protealis is currently assessing the full range of offerings within the EIC Scaling Club to determine the most impactful opportunities for its growth. Since the company is currently undergoing a significant transition towards becoming a scale-up, it seeks to leverage the club's resources to gain valuable advice, connect with fellow scale-ups facing similar challenges, and benefit from mentorship opportunities. Benjamin adds:
“Another key area of interest for us is gaining greater access to policymakers and regulators. I think there are a lot of valuable components within the EIC Scaling Club, and we are committed to exploring them.”
See our full interview with Benjamin Laga in the video below, or visit our YouTube channel for more video content!
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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