Terviva secures funding to commercialise culinary oil and plant protein

US-based food and agriculture company Terviva has secured an investment of $54m in a financing round to commercialise its sustainable food ingredients, including culinary oil and plant protein.

During this quarter, Terviva also expects to close an additional $24m in equity and debt capital to drive its expansion plan.

The financing round was led by Astera Institute, Evans Properties, Trustbridge Partners, The Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust, SoBe and Blue Buffalo Pet Food co-founder Ron Edwards among others.

Terviva founder and CEO Naveen Sikka said: “Terviva’s pongamia-based food ingredients broaden access to healthy and environmentally sustainable foods that directly combat climate change. With our food ingredients, we can feed the planet and heal it at the same time.”

Next year, the company plans to open a facility in the US, which will produce pongamia-based foods.

Concurrent to this financing round, Terviva has announced a new partnership with global food company Danone.

Under the partnership, the two companies have agreed to develop new food products that utilise pongamia oil and plant protein.

It illustrates their shared vision to improve the environmental outcomes of the food system by backing regenerative farming practices.

Danone open innovation and circular economy for food global director Merijn Dols said: “We believe that healthy foods need a healthy planet with thriving ecosystems and strong, resilient social structures.

“This is why we are excited to team up with Terviva to co-develop important ingredients, edible protein and oil, from the pongamia tree while also rehabilitating the soil the tree grows in.”

MISTA, a global innovation platform, is also supporting the partnership between Terviva and Danone.

Terviva is engaged in the production of buttery cooking oil and soluble plant protein from the beans of the regenerative pongamia tree, using natural, proprietary food processing methods.