REharvest Co.,Ltd. (CEO Min Alexander Myoung) participated in 'Try Everything 2021' held at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul from September 15 (Wed) to 17 (Fri).

By-products generated during food processing in Korea are approaching 30 million tons per year. Of this, 70% are classified as garbage, which is a huge burden not only for business but also for the environment. Comprehensively considering the domestic occurrence scale, nutritional characteristics, and regulatory environment, REharvest focused on food upcycling particularly beer and sikhye (sweet Korean rice beverage) by-products among various other food by-products, as these have high potential in terms of marketability and environmental contribution.

In particular, beer and sikhye by-products increase every year, causing more than KRW 28 billion in environmental charges to companies. In the future, it is expected that by-products will continue to increase due to product diversification and increased consumption. To add to that, when more than 400,000 tons of beer and sikhye by-products are disposed of as food waste, CO2 generated reaches 1.1 million tons, which is equivalent to the carbon emission of 240,000 passenger cars. Food upcycling isn’t just beneficial economically but also environmentally.

The company wants to become the leading representative company contributing to the virtuous cycle of the F&B industry structure, reducing carbon emissions, contributing to environmental protection, and solving the problem of food resource shortages by re-harvesting food by-products through food upcycling as part of the circular economy,

REharvest developed a substitute raw material 'Re-Energy Powder' using by-products of beer and sikhye as raw materials. 'Re-Energy Powder’ can be used as a healthy substitute for wheat flour, the main ingredient in various foods such as cereals, pizza, sweets, and bread. It has already been commercialized in various forms, such as noodles and bread products, dough for baking and snack bars, granola, and pizza dough.

'Re-Energy Powder’ has a high value for money with excellent nutritional ingredients. Compared to competing products, it contains twice the average protein and 11 times higher dietary fiber, and the cost is 64% lower. In addition, the powder directly contributes to reducing carbon emission and waste generation and reducing water consumption.

Earlier this year, through the large open innovation program of the Seoul Startup Hub, a start-up organization in Seoul, the company launched a technology branding collaboration with OB Beer, launching Re-Energy Granola including a Re-Energy Bar made from Cass bak, In the future, they are planning to expand the product line up to other products using flour to other B2B and B2C areas.

REharvest said, "In Korea, we have signed an exclusive contract with OB Beer and are manufacturing Re-Energy powder that replaces wheat flour with by-product of beer. In 2020, we also succeeded in attracting investment from impact investors such as Sopoong Ventures and CJ CheilJedang. Based on this, we are actively discussing entry into overseas markets.”

Meanwhile, Seoul Startup Hub, the representative start-up institution of the city of Seoul, promotes the global advancement of promising companies by establishing networks with foreign governments such as the Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology and providing localized childcare programs to support startups.

The results from this endeavor were presented at the 2021 global startup festival ‘Try Everything’. Try Everything was operated with a total of 91 scale-up and global startup-focused startup programs with more than 500 organizations including global startup experts from more than 15 countries, global conglomerates, VC/ACC, and startup-specialized organizations.