Protealis secures 1.2m EUR VLAIO grants to advance local high-performing legume crop innovations in Northern Europe

Protealis, a leading seed and seed technologies developer for high-performing legume crops in Europe, announces it has received EUR 1.2 million in funding from VLAIO, the Flemish Agency for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. This grant will support two ground-breaking projects - UpCoat and Tast-Y- aimed at accelerating the development and commercialization of local, high-value legume seeds, tailored for European farmers as well as the rapidly evolving local plant protein food market in Europe.

Benjamin Laga, CEO of Protealis, commented: ″This support from VLAIO is invaluable in driving our commitment to local, sustainable crop solutions for Europe. UpCoat and Tast-Y will bring transformative innovations that benefit both farmers ánd the food industry, while helping Europe achieve greater self-sufficiency in protein sources.″

The UpCoat project focuses on scaling Protealis’ breakthrough soy seed coating technology. This technology coats live Nitrogen-fixing bacteria on soybean seeds. Legume crops like soy require what is called ‘inoculation’ or coating of the seeds with Bradyrhizobium bacteria strains that remain biologically active even in this temperate Western European climate. The soybean plants need these bacteria to effectively extract nitrogen from the air and fix them in the root nodules, which stimulates growth and increases yield and protein content without the need for synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Already supported by previous VLAIO grants due to its highly innovative nature, the Protealis seed coating technology differentiates through its high user-friendliness for the farmer: it will be delivered as a ‘ready-to-sow’, avoiding the need to add the inoculant manually onto the seeds. Such manual inoculation causes uneven application, reduced viability of the bacteria, and shortened product shelf life - all reducing the efficiency of the seed coating and ultimately, yield. The UpCoat project will now pave the way for accelerated market introduction, and support Protealis’ offering of total legume crop solutions for European agriculture.

The second project, Tast-Y, seeks to advance seed quality in soybean and pea to better meet consumer preferences and processing requirements in the plant-based food sector. By improving these seeds for human consumption, Tast-Y aims to reduce anti-nutritional factors (ANFs)—compounds that, while naturally evolved as a plant defence, can interfere with nutrient absorption and cause digestive discomfort. While the benefits of legumes are widely promoted, information on ANFs and how to reduce these, for example through longer soaking or cooking time, is less commonly discussed. Additionally, this project also emphasizes enhancements in taste, health benefits such as high protein content, and supports more energy-efficient processing. These improvements will allow to create legume varieties optimized for food-grade applications, while aligning with the European shift towards the use of more plant protein sources.