Indian startup EVO Foods, producer of a vegan egg replacer on course to launch in July 2020, has received funding from alt protein venture capital fund Big Idea Ventures and also secured its first angel investment from Ryan Bethencourt, co-founder and CEO of revolutionary pet food company Wild Earth Inc.
Bethencourt will join Stephanie Downs, serial entrepreneur and co-founder at Material Innovation Initiative as advisors to EVO Foods. Big Idea Ventures already has a foothold in plant-based food tech in Asia with has investments in Shiok Meats, Karana and Zhenmeat amongst others.
The Mumbai-based company was founded in early 2019 and will take part in the Big Ideas New York City accelerator cohort. Founders Kartik Dixit & Shraddha Bhansali say they are driving the company with the mission to bring the plant-based revolution to India. India’s population is amongst the highest globally for vegetarianism but this usually overlooks milk and eggs. EVO uses deep food science to create a “clean” protein alternative for India’s traditional egg market.
EVO’s liquid egg uses advanced plant biochemistry and food science to extract proteins from legumes and other plant sources to create its “evolved” egg replica without cholesterol, antibiotics, or any animal cruelty. The egg replacement market is a relatively new concept in India, however a recent report, as we published last month, demonstrated Indian consumers to be far more open to and accepting of the idea of plant-based products when compared with US consumers.
EVO’s founders said to Vegan First: “We both believe that egg is a grey area in the Indian market. Considered as veg and non-veg both my different communities and cultures. Doctors recommend it as a protein source but cholesterol is an issue for most of the people. We want people to have it just like an egg without cholesterol, salmonella risk and cruelty.”