Elbow Beach, one of the UK’s most active specialist climate impact seed investors, announces a £1.5 million follow-on investment in Upcycled Plant Power (UPP), a pioneering UK food-tech company creating sustainable, hypoallergenic vegetarian protein products from previously wasted broccoli crops.
UPP provides ingredients for food manufacturers seeking to decarbonise their products, with applications ranging from plant-based burgers and sausages to soups and sauces, cakes and bread, and even pet food. By pairing automated broccoli harvesting with the upcycling of 70% of the plant typically discarded, UPP transforms a high-waste crop into a dual-revenue system that cuts Scope 3 emissions and supports UK food security, nutrition, and affordability goals.
“UPP is redefining how we produce plant protein, using under-utilised parts from the crops we already grow, without requiring additional land, water, or emissions,” said Mark Evans, CEO of UPP. “Our technology turns what was once waste into a cost-effective, nutritious, hypoallergenic food ingredient, directly supporting farmers, manufacturers, and the planet.”
UPP recently achieved ISO 9001 certification for Harvesta, its self-powered robotic harvesting system that identifies market-ready broccoli heads in real time. The 2025 Harvesta model, trialled successfully in Lincolnshire and Scotland, can harvest three rows simultaneously at up to 5 km/h, transforming the harvest economics of a crop that is currently picked manually and supplying the side-stream material for UPP’s food ingredient production patent-filed process.
In addition to Elbow Beach’s investment, the total investment round of £3.5 million includes £0.5 million in government grants supporting UPP through to first revenues and £1.5 million of existing loans being converted to equity. The funding will accelerate the scaling of Harvesta and support launches of UPP’s Prota™ (protein) and Fiba™ (fibre) ingredients to market, cementing its position as a UK leader in the alternative protein market.
“We’re proud to continue to back UPP as they scale a technology that delivers real, tangible value to farmers, turning waste into a powerful resource while solving a challenge for food manufacturers wanting to decarbonise their products,” said Jonathan Pollock, CEO of Elbow Beach. “UPP is at the forefront of innovation, aligning directly with the UK Government’s modern Industrial Strategy and its focus on Advanced Manufacturing and Digital Technologies.”
