Sigma invests £250k in Nandi Biotechnology
01/04/2004

Nandi Biotechnology is a spinout from Heriot-Watt University, formed in January 2001 to commercialise a technology for replacing fats in food with products based on egg white and whey protein.

The technology is based on the work of founder Dr Lydia Campbell, a lecturer in food science at the university who had previously worked with Nestle at its R&D centre in Germany and later with its foods business in South Africa.

While the company’s long term objective is to use its expertise to deliver high added value biotechnology into the food, pharma and other industries through a series of contractual arrangements with significant industry players, in the short term Nandi will concentrate on broadening its current customer base within specialist food sectors.

The technology is based on an understanding of glyconomics, the study of sugars that modify proteins. Sugar modification of proteins is an important yet often ignored aspect of protein-based products; for example, pharmaceutical proteins produced in bacteria through biotechnology often fail to perform in therapeutic applications because necessary sugars are not attached. Nandi’s patented process involves the heating of food albumin such as egg white and milk whey protein in the presence of sugar and salt, resulting in a denatured, glycosylated albumin which is protected from coagulation and, being soluble, has improved functional properties such as emulsifying ability and water binding. The first products have similar functionality to sodium caseinate (Na-caseinate), a milk protein with many applications – for example food processing, paper coating, and the treatment of leather and paints - but are acid stable and typically cost less than a quarter the price of Na-caseinate.

In addition to the £250k investment by the Sigma Innovation Fund, a £150k SPUR application to fund product development research is expected to be approved shortly. Following the investment Neil Crabb, a director of Sigma Technology, has joined the Nandi board, which also includes founder Lydia Campbell, David Wilkinson, a food industry veteran who has been Nandi’s business development director since shortly after its formation, and Mike Brennand, CEO of AIM-listed Micap plc. Nandi is shortly to relocate to the Innovation Centre in Dundee.
 
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