The Recognition Behind Canada's First Clear Protein

We started VEGAIN in a home kitchen because we were tired of vegan protein that tasted like dirt and tired of being told good protein only comes from dairy. We didn't set out chasing awards, we set out to build something better. That said, when BC's food and innovation community started taking notice, it meant a lot.

We Were First, and We're Not Shy About It

SURGE is North America's first clear, plant-based protein, and we're genuinely proud of that. We're not shy about saying it either, we think ours is the best. We were the first ones to bring this to market, and it's been genuinely great to see other companies follow suit since. We still stand by being the best at it.

Here's why built SURGE in the first place: roughly 70% of people can't properly digest dairy, and whey is still the number one sports nutrition product on shelves. That's a real problem, not a minor inconvenience, so we built North America's first clear vegan protein, made in BC from Canadian-grown Prairie peas, to actually solve it.

What SURGE Has Actually Won

SURGE was named Product of the Year 2025 by BC Food & Beverage. Separately, it also picked up an Innovation of the Year award from the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce.

VEGAIN Nutrition is also a finalist in the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition, presented by Innovate BC, one of just ten companies to make the cut out of thousands that applied, and the only CPG company in the Top 10.

Thank you to our investors, our advisors, and our community, all of whom make it possible to build a first-to-market innovation with global potential, from right here in Canada instead of somewhere else. That matters even more now than it used to.

Why We Think It's Resonating

British Columbia has a genuinely strong food and innovation scene, and the groups behind these awards see a lot of pitches. What we hear back consistently is that people respond to the fact that we're small, founder-led, and still hands-on with everything, from answering our own customer emails to demoing our own product at Costco.

It also doesn't hurt that we're solving a real problem. Roughly 70% of people have some degree of lactose intolerance, yet whey remains the sports nutrition default. A clear, complete, dairy-free protein made from Canadian-grown peas, specifically from Alberta and Saskatchewan, is the kind of product that's easy for an industry group to get behind.

What This Means for You

Honestly, not much changes day to day. We're still the same small team making SURGE from peas grown on the Prairies. But recognition like this is a signal that we're building something that holds up against real scrutiny, not just something that sounds good in an ad.

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