March 8, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Sweden’s Mycorena has done it again.

Last July, the startup completed a Pre-Series A round raising SEK 77 million (US$9 million), marking one of the largest funding rounds for a Nordic vegan food tech startup made to-date, and bringing total funding for the company to SEK 100 million (US$11 million).

Less than one year later, the company is in the news again, having broken another record, closing the largest-ever Nordic alternative protein Series A round, raising EUR 24 million (US$26.2 million).

This round, which pushes total funding for the company to-date beyond EUR 35 million (US$38.2 million), not only brought in a number of new investors to the company, but also included several existing investors returning to reinforce their commitment to the work that Mycorena is doing, according to a company statement.

These successes are reflective of Mycorena’s meteoric growth. Since 2019, the company has established its headquarters and its demonstration plant called the Mycorena Innovation and Development Center (MIND). As the largest facility of its kind across all of Europe, MIND has made possible the rapid scale up, expansion of business opportunities, IP generation, and product development for Mycorena.

“This milestone is an embodiment of the exponential progress we’ve made in the last year,” said  Anton Johansson, CFO, Mycorena. “In one go, we have raised more capital than through all previous financing rounds combined, and our total funding has more than tripled. The trust placed in Mycorena by existing and new investors is a confirmation of a job well done, a strong motivator to never settle, and a spur to achieve even more in the future!”

Founded by Rankumar Nair in 2017 in Gothenburg as a spin-off from research being conducted by company founder and CEO Ramkumar Nair,  Mycorena has evolved into one of the most rapidly growing food tech startups in Sweden, and a global leader in the production of mycoprotein.

With a vision to being the world’s leading brand for fungi-based products, its flagship offering Promyc (launched in 2019) is sustainably made by applying fermentation to food by-products and unused resources from its network of partners that would otherwise have gone to waste. Although not a new technology, Mycorena improves the process with state-of-the-art technology, and in the use of specific strains of a family of filamentous fungi with proven nutritional and safety values.

The nature of this fungi makes the production process highly efficient, and Mycorena began construction of its Promyc Production Plant (3P) in Falkenberg, Sweden in late 2021. On pace to be operational by early 2023, the plant will be the first mycoprotein manufacturing facility in the Nordic region since the invention of the industrial production of filamentous fungi many decades ago. It also will be in close proximity to several leading food and beverage manufacturers, giving it access to a thriving ecosystem for food innovation.

“In a very short time, Mycorena has created a lot of interest around the company and their unique food ingredient, Promyc,” said Tore Sveälv, chairman, Mycorena Board. “Thanks to all investors believing in us – Mycorena is now able to fast-track the construction of its first large scale production plant in Falkenberg.”

With the closing of this round, Mycrorena says that now is the time for commercialization.

Together with its food industry partners across both the Nordic region and the EU, Mycorena is driving toward its commercial ambitions, ramping up product development efforts to launch vegan food products with Promyc as their key ingredient.

“Thanks to our recent rapid growth and the expansion of the Mycorena Innovation and Development Center, we have been able to scale at a pace that we never thought possible,” said Nair. “Funds raised from the current Series A round will be instrumental in elevating our trajectory even further. It allows us to invest heavily in both innovation and growth and, most importantly, bring us one step closer to commissioning the first-of-its-kind and globally unique Promyc Production Plant.”

Additionally, the company stated that it remains open to the idea of hybrid products with Promyc working with other plant-based ingredients, and is working with several large food companies on consumer product rollouts that will occur nationwide during this year. 

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– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.