What Upcycled Plant Power (UPP) Limited does

Upcycled Plant Power (UPP) Limited is a UK-based food technology company founded in June 2022 that operates a harvest-to-ingredient platform converting underutilised broccoli biomass (stems, stalks, and other side-streams representing roughly 80% of the harvested crop) into specification-grade protein and fibre ingredients. Its core technology centres on Harvesta, a patent-protected automated selective harvester using computer vision and machine learning to identify and pick market-ready broccoli heads at approximately 5 km/h across three rows simultaneously, paired with the Reacta and Bia processing technologies (protected as trade secrets) and the Intellia data platform that delivers yield predictions and precision-agriculture insights to farmers. The portfolio includes Prota (protein), Fiba and Bynda (fibre), and Necta (a sugar feedstock for precision fermentation and mycelium production), with Ova, Ola, Isa, and Myca in development.

UPP serves B2B customers exclusively, supplying Tier 1 food manufacturers, foodservice operators, and UK/EU supermarket retailers with allergen-free, vegan, non-GMO ingredients certified to BRCGS Grade A. As of early 2026, 25+ Tier 1 food producers are in trials, 8 are at or through the Supplier Approval Questionnaire stage, and two £bn+ Tier 1 producers have granted full approval status for Fiba and Bynda. The business model combines ingredient supply under fixed-price multi-year contracts with a Harvesta-as-a-Service arrangement in which farmers receive free or subsidised harvesting equipment in exchange for exclusive rights to side-stream biomass, plus Necta feedstock sales to alternative-protein companies. Production currently operates at pilot scale (10 t/day input, 4 t/day output) at the Newport, Shropshire facility, with a strategic partnership with East of Scotland Growers providing up to 100,000 tonnes/year of feedstock and a planned Fife processing plant, while discussions for 200,000+ tonnes/year with a US farm group underpin a stated US market activation in 2027. Total disclosed funding stands at approximately £3.6M including £1.5M from Elbow Beach Capital, £1.45M of loan-to-equity conversion, and ~£1.38M of Innovate UK grants.

Name

Upcycled Plant Power (UPP) Limited

Legal name

Upcycled Plant Power ('UPP') Limited

Website

https://upp.farm

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Upcycled Plant Power (UPP) is a UK food-tech company that upcycles broccoli side-streams into specification-grade protein and fibre ingredients (Prota, Fiba, Bynda, Necta) for B2B supply to Tier 1 food manufacturers, foodservice operators, and retailers, enabled by its patent-protected automated Harvesta harvester.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Upcycled Plant Protein and Fibre Ingredients

NAICS

Fruit and Vegetable Preserving and Specialty Food Manufacturing (3114), Food Manufacturing (311)

SIC

Miscellaneous Food Preparations & Kindred Products (2090), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro primary industry

Plant-Based Protein Ingredient Producers (Isolates, Concentrates, Texturates) (AFANAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Fruit & Vegetable Ingredients for Food Manufacturing (Diced, Slices, Fillings, Toppings) (AFAKAFAI), Dried & Dehydrated Foods Manufacturing (AFAKACAK)

Keywords

• Plant-based protein ingredients
• Upcycled food ingredients
• Brassica fibre ingredients
• Alternative protein manufacturing
• Automated crop harvesting

Headquarters

HQ city

Newport

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Protein and Fibre Ingredient Sales: Sale of specification-grade brassica protein (Prota, Prota+) and fibre (Fiba, Bynda) ingredients to food manufacturers. Ingredients sold in wet and dry formats for use in hybrid meat products, plant-based foods, bakery, sauces, soups, pasta, and other applications. Revenue from multi-tonne supply contracts with Tier 1 food producers.
2. Harvesta-as-a-Service (HaaS): Commercial model for automated broccoli harvesting equipment delivered to farmers. Farmer grants exclusive rights to side-stream in exchange for harvest automation services. Pricing structured to share economic benefit of harvest automation between UPP and the planter. Farmer also shares in upside of side-stream value.
3. Necta Feedstock Sales: Sale of Necta (broccoli sugar feedstock including fructose, glucose and sucrose) to precision fermentation and mycelium companies as sustainable alternative to corn syrup feedstock. Offered at fixed price for defined period with discount to commercial grown-for-purpose feedstock.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

UPP manufactures and supplies specification-grade plant protein (Prota), fibre (Fiba), fermented fibre (Bynda), and sugar (Necta) ingredients produced from upcycled broccoli stems and stalks. Products are sold in wet and dry formats to Tier 1 food manufacturers, foodservice operators and supermarket retailers for drop-in reformulation of hybrid meat, plant-based, bakery, sauces and pasta products. The company also deploys proprietary Harvesta robotic harvesting equipment to broccoli growers in exchange for exclusive side-stream supply.

Product overview

UPP operates as an ingredient infrastructure company offering a portfolio of brassica-derived protein and fiber ingredients produced through their harvest-to-ingredient platform. The core product suite includes Prota (protein ingredient), Fiba (fiber ingredient from broccoli stems), Bynda (fermented broccoli), and Necta (fermentation feedstock for precision fermentation and mycelium production). The technology infrastructure centers on Harvesta, an automated selective harvester using computer vision and machine learning to capture broccoli side-stream biomass, and Intellia, a data platform providing farmer-facing agricultural intelligence. Products are designed for drop-in inclusion at 4-30% rates in existing food manufacturing processes, with applications across meat hybrids, plant-based foods, bakery, sauces, and soups.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fiba: Fibre ingredient made from broccoli stems, sold to food producers in wet and dry formats for applications including sausages, burgers, sauces, stews, and cakes.
• Bynda
• Prota
• Necta
• Harvesta
• Intellia
• Reacta

Products and services

• Prota Allergen-free, vegan protein ingredient derived from broccoli biomass, designed for drop-in inclusion rates of 4-30% in food manufacturing applications such as hybrid meat and plant-based products.
• Fiba Fibre ingredient made from broccoli stems, sold in wet and dry formats, with applications spanning sausages, burgers, sauces, stews and cakes; addresses the over 350,000 tonnes of broccoli biomass discarded annually in the UK.
• Bynda Fermented broccoli fibre ingredient cleared as non-novel by a major supermarket's Policy Regulatory Committee and approved for use in their supply chain alongside Fiba.
• Necta Fermentation feedstock containing fructose, glucose and sucrose (broccoli sugars are approximately 45-50% glucose, 35-40% fructose, 10-20% sucrose), designed as a sustainable feedstock for precision fermentation and mycelium production processes.
• Harvesta Automated Selective Harvester Automated Selective Harvester using computer vision and machine learning to identify and selectively harvest market-ready broccoli heads at approximately 5 km/h, capturing side-stream biomass for ingredient production while reducing harvest labour costs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Carbon footprint <0.25 kg CO₂e/kg vs soy or pea protein (independent LCA)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.

• ProVeg International (ProVeg Incubator)supportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026Selected for 2026 ProVeg Incubator Fast-track To Impact program providing mentorship, strategic guidance, and network access in alternative protein space at no equity or fee cost.
• East of Scotland GrowerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 October 2025Strategic harvest and supply partnership providing access to up to 100,000 tonnes of broccoli biomass per year. Farmers receive automation benefits, share in ingredient value created, and gain new revenue stream from previously wasted side-streams.
• Harper Adams UniversitysupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch collaboration on sustainable sausage development using locally reared pork and UPP ingredients. Joint work on 'naturally sustainable sausage' demonstrating hybridization approach.
• James Hutton InstitutesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership; Professor Stewart serves as Co-Director of NAPIC and advisor to UPP. Collaboration on alternative protein research and development.
• UK Agri-Tech CentresupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull-chain agricultural innovation centre providing grant support and technical collaboration. Supported UPP from business outset with £7,000 de-minimis grant for Agri-Tech Solution Sprints.
• Manufacturing Technology CentresupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesign for Manufacture of Harvesta supported by £130,276 de-minimis grant (AgriScale 1, October 2025). Technical collaboration on harvest automation engineering.
• National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerInnovation Knowledge Centre funded by BBSRC and Innovate UK. UPP is one of the first industrial partners, collaborating on alternative protein research and industry alignment.

Scale indicators15 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Benson Hill: US-based B2B ingredient company producing plant-based protein ingredients (soy, yellow pea) from proprietary crop varieties for food manufacturers. Comparable ingredient-infrastructure business model targeting the same Tier 1 food manufacturer reformulation use cases as UPP.
• The Supplant Company: UK-based food-tech producing upcycled sugars and flours from agricultural waste streams (corn cobs, straw) for B2B food manufacturers. Highly comparable upcycled-ingredient thesis, B2B model and circular-economy positioning.
• Perfect Day: US precision-fermentation company producing animal-free dairy protein for B2B food manufacturers. Comparable alt-protein ingredient-infrastructure thesis, B2B distribution model and customer base of major CPG companies.
• Better Meat Co. B2B supplier of plant-based protein ingredients (via fermentation of upcycled potato protein) for hybrid and plant-based meat manufacturers. Closely comparable ingredient-supplier model with an upcycled feedstock narrative.
• Cauldron: Australia-based precision fermentation company producing alt-protein ingredients for food manufacturers. Comparable scale-up alt-protein ingredient infrastructure at similar funding stage.

Broad incumbents

• Roquette: Global leader in plant-based ingredients (pea protein under NUTRALYS brand) and starches serving food manufacturers. Represents the incumbent brassica/pea/soy protein supplier against which UPP must compete on cost and reliability at scale.
• Cargill: Largest privately held food and agricultural company with a deep plant-protein and food-ingredients portfolio (including PURIS pea protein). Competes for the same Tier 1 food manufacturer ingredient budgets.
• Ingredion: Major ingredient supplier producing plant-based proteins, starches and sweeteners for global food manufacturers. Comparable B2B ingredient platform with established scale, regulatory infrastructure and Tier 1 customer relationships.
• Kerry Group: Global taste and nutrition company supplying functional ingredients and proteins to food and beverage manufacturers. Comparable B2B food-ingredient infrastructure with deep Tier 1 penetration.

Emerging players

• ProteinDistillery: European startup producing protein ingredients from upcycled side-streams (yeast from brewing industry) for food applications. Closely matches UPP's upcycled-ingredient thesis and European B2B ingredient positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/upcycled-plant-power-upp-limited

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Upcycled Plant Power (UPP) Limited