Luya Foods closes Seed financing round

Luya Foods rescues organic okara from going to waste: Okara is a by-product of tofu and soy milk production of which more than 14 million tons go to waste globally every year despite its high nutritional value and fiber content. Luya has developed a proprietary, patent protected process – a combination of traditional fermentation methods and modern technology - to turn okara into delicious foods. The first products are ready-to-cook chunks and burger patties. Using this process, Luya skips all the additives and highly processed protein isolates, and offers 100% natural and organic products made in Switzerland.

The seed round was led by Redalpine Venture Partners. Luya, a spin-off from the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), previously received the support of the Gebert Rüf Stiftung, >>venture>>, VentureKick and BFH-HAFL.

After successfully launching the Luya Okara Chunks and Luya Okara Burgers in Swiss gastronomy in July 2021, the Luya team is planning to launch their products in the Swiss retail market in 2022. To satisfy the rapidly growing demand for Luya’s products, a first significant production scale up is planned in 2022. In addition, the new funding will accelerate R&D for future Luya products and strengthen Luya’s fermentation platform.

“We are thrilled to have secured the necessary capital to introduce Luya to the Swiss market, prepare our international expansion and accelerate our mission to define a new category in the space of alternatives to meat with our natural and organic products”, says co-founder Flavio Hagenbuch.

“I am delighted to embark on this journey together with Luya Foods. I never really liked soy-based meat alternatives and this is the first product that I really love – unbelievable, that it is made from soy. We are so excited to help Luya Foods bring their products to consumers all around the world.” says Nadine Geiser, investment manager at Redalpine.

(Press release / SK)