Legendary Foods, a Kumasi-based food tech company, has secured additional capital from the Climate Resilient Africa Fund, an impact-focused Africa venture capital fund.
According to Shobhita Soor, the CEO of Legendary Foods, “The partnership amplifies our ability to scale with quality and aligns perfectly with our mission to introduce climate-resilient protein alternatives.”
What is Legendary Food Africa all about?
Founded in 2020, Legendary Foods produces sustainable alternative protein less destructive to the environment than industrial meat production. The company has developed a proprietary farming system to produce palm weevil at scale. Palm larvae, traditionally widely consumed across West and Central Africa, are a highly nutritional source of protein, good fats, and many essential vitamins.
The harvested palm weevils are processed into value-added products such as baked cookies, shito (a local condiment), fried palm weevils, etc, to customers. It also provides protein as an ingredient for food manufacturing companies. These food manufacturers add the larvae as an ingredient to existing products with no protein, zinc, B vitamins, and other nutrients.
Solving protein deficiency while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions.
Between 1961 and 2013, it was estimated that the protein supply per person in Africa only increased by 31%, much lower than advances made in Asia (64%) and the Caribbean (46%) regions. The supply in Africa (69.10 g/capita/day) was also the lowest among all other regions of the world.. Protein deficiency can lead to various health problems, including stunted growth, weakened immune function, and impaired cognitive development. Palm larvae, which are a nutritional powerhouse, can be used to bridge the gap. They are highly nutritious sources of protein, good fats, zinc, B vitamins, iron, magnesium and calcium. Moreover, they are cheaper to produce than other protein sources.
Furthermore, Legendary Foods’ vertical farming system avoids deforestation practices. Insects rearing emit 75% fewer greenhouse gases (GHG) than most livestock. According to the World Resource Institute, beef is also one of the world’s most resource- and emissions-intensive foods, with land use and GHG emissions seven times higher than chicken and twenty times higher than beans per gram of protein. By promoting the consumption of palm weevil as an alternative protein source, Legendary Food encourages a shift away from conventional meat production methods with a larger carbon footprint, thus aiding in emissions reduction efforts.
Which investors are betting on Legendary Foods Africa?
The company is funded by a consortium of angel investors, accelerators, grant financiers, venture capitalists and private equity firms. The company has raised close to $1 million since inception. The Africa Business Angel Network recently invested via a Rwanda-based Special Purpose Vehicle in Legendary Foods. In 2023, it secured €100,000 from the develoPPP Ventures grant programme. In 2022, it closed a $500,000 growth funding deal from the private equity firm Baylis Emerging Markets. As a Katapult Africa Accelerator-backed company, Legendary Food also received $150,000 in funding as part of the accelerator program in 2022.
Source: Climate Resilient Africa Fund
