□ Company name & date of establishment: REharvest Co., Ltd., 14 August 2019 □ CEO & location: Min Alexander Myoung Joon (36 years old), Seocho-gu, Seoul □ Key technology: High-efficiency process of turning food byproducts into food ingredients □ Achievement: Selected as a “First Penguin Startup” by the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, attracted series A investment
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (Minister Chung Hwang-keun, MAFRA) selected REharvest (CEO Min Alexander Myoung Joon) as the 46th A-Venture* of the month, a project to discover and promote outstanding startups in agri-food industry. *A-Venture: Refers to leading startups in agriculture and food industries, meaning “avengers” in agriculture.
RE:harvest is a startup that produces and sells RE:nergy flour* and food produced based on the flour substitute by upcycling** byproducts derived from the process of producing beer, sikhye (Korean sweet rice punch) and etc. * A combined word of re- and energy, meaning reuse of energy ** Producing a completely new product out of a thrown-away stuff with new value going beyond recycling.
RE:harvest applied automatic circulation drying and moisture and bacteria analysis function using a hyperspectral camera to enhance the efficiency of the process of turning by-products into raw materials from washing to dehydration, drying, pulverization, and bacteria control. By doing so, the company established high-efficiency process with 12 times or more reduced time of drying and 9 times or more increased productivity compared to the conventional process.
Produced through this process, RE:nergy flour boasts being rich in dietary fiber more than 20 times and protein more than twice as much as conventional wheat flour, used as an ingredient for bakery products and noodles through a number of food companies. It has also been developed and sold as a variety of high-protein and high-fiber products such as energy bars and granola.
In addition, RE:harvest signed an agreement with a major beer company in Korea and is working on developing various foods using food by-products such as beer waste, creating new added value that reduces waste disposal costs and minimizes environmental pollution.
Importantly, the company is gaining attention with an exemplary ‘ESG (corporates’ social and environmental activities) management’ practice that reduces carbon emissions reducing 11kg of carbon per 1kg and 3.7 tons of water compared to the production of flour.
Building on this technological expertise, RE:harvest has been selected as a “First Penguin Startup” by the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund* and attracted a large scale investment (5 billion won) from conglomerates, with its potential being well-recognized. * Korea Credit Guarantee Fund’s First Penguin Startup discovers and selects promising startups with great potential within 5 years of establishment and provides guarantees of up to 3 billion won for 3 years.
Min Alexander Myoung Joon, CEO of RE:harvest expressed his ambition, “We are using by-products of beer and sikhye at the moment, but upcycling based on various raw materials such as wastes from bean curd, red ginseng, and rice flour is also under development. I want RE:harvest to become a leading company in ESG management by establishing a new virtuous cycle of resources in the food and beverage industry.”