Lembas GLP-1 Ingredient Manufacturer Enters The Market Following $3.6 Million Pre-Seed Investment

The CPG Industry has been getting involved in GLP-1 popularity recently by prioritizing macros, mainly protein, in a wide range of products. But now a more targeted option opens itself up at the intersection of weight loss and CPG.

Lembas is a new peptide ingredient company that enters the market today with intentions of partnering with CPG brands to create food products that target the GLP-1 hormone. It provides consumers an option other than pharmaceutical injections, known to have a rash of side effects, to lose weight via GLP-1 by actually eating food.

“GLP-1 is the biggest revolution in food that is led by pharma companies,” says Lembas cofounder and CEO Shay Hilel, who has previously worked on other science tech startups. “We see opportunities around intervention for people who do not want drugs.” According to a JAMA poll, about 12% of US adults have tried a GLP-1 agonist drug including Ozempic or Wegovy.

With $3.6 million, lead by Flora VC, raised in the past 10 months, Lembas’ first ingredient product, ‘GLP-1 Edge,’ is a peptide powder that will be available B2B so that food brands will be able to formulate products for consumers to lose or maintain their weight. Lembas is not specifically targeting people who are currently taking GLP-1 agonist drugs but rather those who are looking to lose about 10-15% of their body weight, which they say should take about two months. “[It’s for]

people that don’t want for some reason to try drugs or people that enjoyed [the drug] but they don’t want to be on drugs for all their lives,” says Lembas cofounder and CTO Dr. Zohar Barbash, who is a geneticist and holds a PhD in molecular biology from Tel Aviv University. That’s another reason why the company is marketing the product to people who have taken the drugs in the past, but then do not want to gain the weight back. “We don’t recommend taking it together,” she says.

While GLP-1 Edge targets the same hormone as the pharmaceuticals, it satiates the body differently. “Ozempic works on your brain…you just don’t feel hungry,” Barbash says. “[With Lembas] you’re going to feel like you ate a lot on the spot,” she says about eating just one product that would contain GLP-1 Edge. “It’s not just that you are not eating at all. You will just feel like skipping one meal.”

The effect is intended to last for about six hours, at which point the consumer, Lembas says, shouldn’t feel full anymore. “When you eat, you feel full for a while and then you feel hungry again…it’s important to feel these ups and downs. It is good for your health,” says Barbash. As opposed to scheduled injections, eating a product with GLP-1 Edge allows the consumer to control how much they intake.

Lembas was created with an AI model based off of a decade of protein interaction data collected by two of its other cofounders, Maayan Gal and Dr. Daniel Bar, researchers and professors at Tel Aviv University. The AI works by predicting [proteins]

that will bind to each other…The process is similar to the process of how you find a new drug,” Barbash says. “But what you want to see in the end is not a drug, but something that will enhance your GLP-1, but not through drugs, through your food.”

Preclinical data has shown GLP-1 Edge to be effective in mice. “We see the reduction in the glucose level of the mice, and we see also the other satiety hormone rising up,” Hilel says. “So we got very good validation that really supports the science around what we are doing ”

The Lembas team says that a significant benefit of GLP-1 is the lack of side effects that are often affiliated with the equivalent pharmaceuticals. “[The drugs are] expensive…you need prescriptions…You need to inject,” says Gil Horsky, managing partner at Flora VC. “Even if insurance covers it, it covers it until a certain BMI, until a certain weight level, and then you lose the coverage.” Lembas claims no side effects occur with GLP-1 Edge. “We are looking at the natural way of activating the metabolism,” Barbash says. “It will not be harmful to your muscle mass at all.”

The Lembas team is looking to partner with health-conscious CPG brands, noting that GLP-1 Edge will not affect the taste of the product when it’s added. “It will be better in yogurt or something like that, but also in anything that is acidic,” Barbash says, adding more context about the consistency partners can expect with the formulation. “It creams when it comes into contact with other foods.” They envision GLP-1 Edge in standard grocery aisles and supplement aisles in products like protein bars, granola bars, immunity shots or gummy bears.

Lembas is an ingredient manufacturer. The difference opposed to a standard weight loss supplement is that GLP-1 Edge, as opposed to just suppressing appetite, specifically targets the GLP-1 hormone, something not known on the market at the moment. It adds to other scientific ingredient manufacturers who partner with CPG products such as Cognizin citicoline for brain health and Rarebird paraxanthene for a caffeine alternative.

Lembas is not attempting to compete with drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. “That’s a different category. This is not pharma,” Horsky says. “It’s never going to have the efficacy of a pharmaceutical solution.”

Clinical trials are set to begin shortly and Lembas will be applying for US GRAS certification. GLP-1 Edge is patent-pending. The company is targeting the US market first but will roll out to other parts of the world eventually. It hopes to have a GLP-1 Edge CPG product on the market by the end of 2026.

Lembas has plans beyond GLP-1 Edge to produce other ingredients that can impact wellbeing like sleep and energy.

Any Lord of the Rings fan will understand that the name Lembas stems from the film. “It’s a magical bread that you eat, and a small bite can fill the stomach of a grown man,” Hilel says. “This is the vision which we are driving to bring this magic, but utilizing very deep science capabilities.”

“The pharma industry…it’s making people eat less, and the food industry is panicking,” Horsky says. “There’s a big belief that the food industry is going to be very fast in adopting it because they don’t have a choice.”

It is recommended to consult your doctor before starting any weight loss treatment.