Wide Open Agriculture rounded out its busy 2023 with its new German subsidiary, WOA Germany, selling and delivering its first order of lupin protein isolate since the merger.
WOA CEO Jay Albany said it was a “truly momentous achievement”.
“It speaks to the powerful commercial potential for lupin protein in Europe. The first sale is a big milestone which not only validates our innovative product range, but also highlights our successful integration of the Prolupin business. We believe this is just the beginning. We're excited about the future, as we continue to make strides in providing sustainable and high-quality lupin protein products to the world,” Albany said.
The integration of Prolupin’s manufacturing and engineering teams gives WOA a competitive portfolio of lupin protein isolates, including Buntine Protein, LP90 and PL20, with each formulation offering unique advantages depending on the end application of the product. The first sale delivered was LP90.
The company has also ordered and received the equipment necessary to produce its Buntine Protein product in Germany. It expects to begin commercial production in the first calendar quarter of this year.
Business Update
But there have been challenges for the company. Albany released a lengthy business update to stakeholders earlier this month saying, “2023 at WOA alternated between some incredible execution of complex challenges, and some extremely frustrating setbacks”.
WOA wasn’t immune to the global compression of the multiples used to value plant-based food companies, and financial markets for small growth companies were “extremely challenging”, Albany said.
“Fortunately, we were able to adjust our capital strategy at the beginning of the year. We focused on 1) accelerating speed to market and 2) reducing the capital requirements to commercialise Buntine Protein.
“We made some missteps in how we communicated the shift in strategy. These created real frustration for investors and management.
“We had the intention of sharing how we planned to bring our flagship product, Buntine Protein to market in a nimble, partner-based approach, which had the benefit of being capital light and fast to market. While the communication strategy was executed poorly, this was the correct set of business decisions,” he said.
“We focused our resources on the areas of the business where we have a demonstrable competitive advantage. We retrenched from the areas where we were at a disadvantage. We built a high-quality partner ecosystem to ensure we achieved our top priorities.
“This practical approach is core to my management philosophy: understand what you do best, do that well, and collaborate elsewhere.”
Albany reiterated that the top priority for 2024 was converting its pipeline into sales.
New distribution partner
WOA has also signed an exclusive sales and distribution agreement with Japanese company, Nissei Kyoeki. Nissei specialises in whey protein products and has 2000 customers and operations in more than 30 countries.
The first step will see WOA supply Nissei with Buntine Protein samples for evaluation by Nissei’s Japanese customers.
