As sustainable, animal–friendly, and environmentally conscious food companies surge in popularity this last year, it takes a little more digging to find the ones that truly shine amongst the crowd.
The crowd is, well… huge. Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are planting an enormous footprint in the retail game. Food producer giants Nestle, Perdue, Tyson, and Smithfield are all adding plant-based products to their inventory. Fast food chains, following the example of A&W, are all adding plant-based meat patties to their menus. McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Del Taco... You name it.
So How Does Pontus Protein Play a Role in this Globally Emerging Market?
In this hot sector, the method used to develop and produce your product are nearly more important than the product itself. The current market has proved that it cares about the state of the earth moving forward. A staggering 3% of the U.S. population follows a plant-based diet, which is a staggering 3,300% increase compared to the one-tenth of a percent that were vegan in 2004.
As far as product goes, Pontus Protein (Canada: HULK) (Europe: 8YC) has tapped into the (surprisingly large) protein powder market, which is currently worth $20B, according to Grandview Research. Utilizing a proprietary, fully self-sustaining aquaponic “ecosystem” dubbed CEVAS (Closed Environment Vertical Aquaponics System), Pontus harvests water lentils every 24 hours to produce its signature protein powder. This technology uses 95% less water than traditional methods and, due to the ideal temperature control abilities, can be replicated virtually anywhere on the planet.
Talk about scale.
Agricultural integrity isn’t the only draw here, as Pontus bears one of the more impressive health profiles seen in protein powder products. Not missing a single amino acid, their product is packed with antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. The blend is gluten-free, allergen safe, and exceeds the certified organic standards by a longshot. Did we mention the finished product yields a whopping 42% protein? That’s as pure as it gets when it comes to plant-derived protein products.
With the plant-based market as a whole expected to be worth a whopping $74.2 billion in the next seven years, Pontus is positioned to take this market by storm.
Breaking Ground
Their commercial space is currently pending regulatory approval, with construction set to commence immediately upon getting the green light. Leasehold improvements will include retrofitting the solar-powered CEVAS system into the space, which will establish their debut operation with 20x the capacity of their previous prototype facility.
Removing the need for any additional chemicals and pesticides, Pontus has full biosecurity to maintain the integrity of their product, as CEVAS controls every element of the agricultural process. Using proprietary operating systems and advanced variable temperature control, Pontus creates the ideal environment to adequately accommodate their harvesting process through every stage.
The 20,570 square-foot facility is in Surrey, B.C. and the Construction of the leasehold improvements are estimated to take 4 months. With this facility as the next step in a long process, Pontus plans to expand to a 60,000 square foot facility and secure several supply partnerships within the functional beverage industry by 2022.
Mark it to Market
Amongst many plays in the plant-based sector of the stock market, HULK stands out as an innovative producer of a unique product in the massive protein powder market. Fully replicable and sustainable, Pontus Protein stands out in the way that such an eco-friendly, integrity-driven model is also very scalable. Often you see just one or the other.
Currently sitting at over a 1000% return since IPO, HULK’s seemingly explosive market debut reflects the excitement of the market when it comes to clean, earth-conscious mandates. We can’t help but feel this is only the tip of the iceberg. Simply taking on a vegan diet already reduces your carbon footprint by 73% according to the University of Oxford. In fact, if every person on earth were to theoretically stop eating meat, the area of land used for global agriculture would shrink down around 75%. Greenhouse gas emissions and mass wildlife extinction would significantly decrease as a direct result of this.
Couple that positive effect from diet alone, with the addition of Pontus Protein’s environmentally controlled, self-contained production model, it’s no wonder the market is excited about the company. Still sitting at barely a tenth of the market cap of Canada’s very own Very Good Food Company, and less than a single percent of vegan giant Beyond Meat, there is plenty of room for Pontus to stomp its own green footprint on the country – and according to their scalability, the rest of the world as well.
Disclaimer: Pontus Protein is a client of Edge Investments and we own shares in the company