The Fuel For Growth venture capital fund, owned by EFKO shareholders, is moving the headquarters of its innovative projects to the UAE.

During a panel discussion at EXPO 2020, EFKO co-owner and the fund's board chairman Sergey Ivanov announced the company had decided to relocate the headquarters of its innovative projects to the Middle East.

In 2022, the fund intends to set up pilot manufacturing in the UAE for all of its key project companies, adapt its plant-based meat and sweet protein technologies to the local climate, launch pilot production of brazzein and monellin, and also localize the assembly of unmanned aerial vehicles and solid oxide fuel cells.

Healthy Innovation (Hi!) is a family of groundbreaking technologies and projects united by the philosophy of positive contribution toward a healthy future. The products and technologies the fund invests in improve the quality of people's lives and are environmentally friendly and affordable to the mass consumer.

At its research center, the fund invests in Hi-Food (plant-based meat and milk —Hi-Meat and Hi-Milk), Hi-Bio (sweet proteins, biosynthesized fats, and cellular nutrition —Hi-Protein and Hi-Nutrition), and Hi-Tech (air taxi, hydrogen and solid oxide fuel cells —Hi-Fly and Hi-Energy).

Executive Director
and member of the Board of Directors
of EFKO Sergey Ivanov

“We are interested in the UAE for several reasons. It's one of the world's logistics and geographic centers. It's very easy to work with consumers in African, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets from here. But most importantly, our food technologies in this particular climate have the potential not only to provide food for local consumers but also to be competitive in the region's export markets."