Estonian start-up ÄIO has raised €1 million ($1.2 million) to develop various oils and fat for the meals trade. The biotechnology agency, based by TalTech bioengineers Petri-Jaan Lahtvee and Nemailla Bonturi final yr, goals to switch environmentally depleting oils comparable to coconut and palm oils with sustainable, full-value alternate options.
ÄIO’s edible fat and oils are produced from agricultural and wooden trade side-streams utilizing processes derived from biotech analysis. The corporate’s proprietary manufacturing method makes use of a fermentation course of which the corporate says is much like brewing beer or elevating bread with yeast. Throughout the fermentation course of, the corporate makes use of what it calls a “pink bug” microbe, created and patented by Bonturi. The outcome, in response to ÄIO, is fat wealthy in wholesome fatty acids and antioxidants.
“Our “pink bug” can not flip water into wine, however it could possibly flip sawdust into meals,” Bonturi mentioned.
Nordic Foodtech VC, EAS, and different companions offered the funding. Mika Kukkurainen, companion and founding father of Nordic Foodtech VC, mentioned the worldwide meals trade is continually trying to find sustainable and wholesome alternate options to palm oil and coconut oil. “Turning low-value side-streams into one thing so beneficial could be very futureproof and has nice scalable enterprise potential,” mentioned Kukkurainen.
The corporate says it’s going to use the funding to extend its manufacturing capability, take a look at merchandise with the meals trade, and apply for novel meals permits to enter the European market. The corporate plans to start industrial-scale manufacturing by 2026.
The information of ÄIO’s funding is the newest in an more and more crowded area of startups trying to develop extra sustainable fats alternate options for makers of other proteins. Final yr CUBIQ raised €5.75 million, only a week after Soften&Marble introduced they’d raised a €5 million Seed spherical to scale up manufacturing for its precision fermentation-derived fats various. In March, Lypid raised $4 million for its know-how that microencapsulates plant oils in water to create spongy fat with excessive melting factors. And final November, Cultimate Meals introduced it had raised a pre-seed €700 thousand to develop cultivated fats for hybrid alt-meat merchandise.
