Swedish startup Mycorena raises €1.2 million funding to expand production, scale-up activities

Swedish startup Mycorena raises €1.2 million funding to expand production, scale-up activities

Published: 26-05-2020 15:45:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 4488 | Tags:

Swedish startup Mycorena has raised over €1.2 million to fund the scale-up expansion of the product to reach the mass market, by financing the sustainable growth of the company initiating their first small-scale industrial production plant in Falkenberg, a region hosting several large-scale food manufacturers in Sweden.

The new investment round attracted investors from FBG Invest (an Industrial Investor Network based in Southern Sweden), Bertebos Foundation (owners of Swedish food companies Berte Qvarn, SIA Glass), Falkenbergs Sparbanks Foundation, investors from GlassWall Syndicate and the company’s existing investors, Bånt AB, Plantbase Foundation and Kale United AB. The company is also funded by EIT Climate-KIC Nordics.

A year ago, the company set its focus towards the use of its novel fungi-based protein as an ingredient in vegan food products. The protein, launched under the brand name Promyc®, has since been attracting huge interest as an alternative to both meat and traditional plant-based proteins such as soy and pea. In the beginning of 2020, the company had expanded its operations to their product development and small-scale production facility, the Promyc Innovation Center, in Gothenburg. 

Jan Melkersson, head of Business Development Unit at Falkenberg Municipality said: ''Mycorena is one of the most promising foodtech start-ups in Sweden. We are really glad to have Mycorena’s production facility in Falkenberg and it’s our first step towards attracting more start-ups within the foodtech space and transform the region to be the Silicon Valley of Foodtech in the Nordics.''

Ebba Fröling, COO at Mycorena said: ''The company envisions Promyc to become the protein ingredient of choice for food producers who want more than what the traditional plant-based proteins can offer whilst creating a positive impact on the environment. Mycorena has got a huge interest from both large and small food companies that wants a new alternative with great taste and texture, but also locally produced and capable of scaling up much faster than any other plant-based options. To achieve this, Mycorena will continue to scale up their production capacity as well as exploring additional product applications of Promyc in the coming months to expand their customer portfolio.''

Ramkumar Nair, Founder & CEO of Mycorena said: ''People are becoming more aware of the importance of having a healthy and sustainable food system, especially at these times when the world is facing a crisis. This awareness is reflecting in the huge boom of the plant-based and non-meat alternative protein segment around the globe. We are really glad to be part of that movement and strongly believe that Promyc is capable of making a disruption within the vegan protein segment.''

mycorena.com