High Time Foods raised $1.2M and moved its HQ to India to sell protein without cold chains

High Time Foods develops non-refrigerated, plant-based protein products for food manufacturers and institutional kitchens.

$1.2M led by Avaana Capital with participation from existing angel investors.

Aakash Shah and Damian Felchlin founded High Time Foods in 2022, initially in the US, developing plant-based protein products designed to work without refrigeration.

After the May 2025 round, the startup moved its headquarters to India, expecting India to contribute 25% of the business with 75% from international markets. It served over 30 B2B clients — food manufacturers, educational institutions, dining facilities — and planned at least 50 B2B partnerships in India by end of 2025, targeting the Horeca segment and food manufacturers. It was also testing with a major food distributor in West Africa.

The constraint is the market: cold-chain scarcity rules out most plant-based meat formats, so shelf-stable protein is a category of one.

Relocating HQ from the US to India put the company where its target problem — protein deficiency without refrigeration — is largest.

A B2B-first motion through manufacturers and institutions scales faster than consumer branding in new markets.

West Africa testing with a major distributor signaled the Global South expansion the round was meant to fund.

Design for the constraint, not the workaround: protein products that never need refrigeration open markets where cold-chain infrastructure is the real competitor.

As of May 8, 2025, High Time Foods was newly headquartered in Bengaluru with over 30 B2B clients, targeting at least 50 Indian partnerships by year-end and validating demand with a major West African food distributor.