The most effective recognized mycoprotein might be Quorn, a meat substitute that’s quick approaching its fortieth birthday. However Finnish biotech startup Enifer is cooking up one thing even older: Its proprietary single-cell fungus-based protein, branded Pekilo, was initially developed within the Nineteen Sixties and ’70s — by, of all issues, the native paper trade.
The main focus again then wasn’t on producing an alternate protein for human consumption, because the startup intends — though the unique Pekilo product was offered for animal feed. As a substitute, per Enifer CEO and co-founder Simo Ellilä, the paper trade’s engineers had been attempting to give you an answer to air pollution attributable to mills dumping manufacturing waste (“sidestreams”) into native waterways.
“It basically started from the fact that people in the lab realized that if you left this stuff over the weekend on the lab bench it would start to grow fungus — and so that was like the ‘ah-ha’ moment,” he defined.
After discovery on a lab bench, manufacturing of the mycoprotein was developed over some 15 years — with paper trade engineers making use of a means of biorefining and utilizing fermentation to develop and harvest the fungus at industrial scale. However the principle aim was nonetheless waste water therapy. Which is why Pekilo fell out of use within the early Nineties when the paper trade switched to incinerating its waste.
The engineering firm that developed it additionally went bankrupt and data of Pekilo was misplaced, as Ellilä tells it — “very actively forgotten” — including a Tolkien-esque ring to this alt protein’s lengthy historical past. “Our founder team were biotech scientists, trained, educated in Finland, and we’d never heard of this thing,” he informed TechCrunch. “So, really well forgotten.”
Somebody remembered, although. And that was how Enifer’s biotech founders stumbled throughout Pekilo — sparking their determination, in 2020, to spin out an organization from the VTT Technical Analysis Centre of Finland. The thought: revive this misplaced proprietary mycoprotein and prolong manufacturing to yield food-grade (not simply feed-grade) protein.
“It was actually thanks to a very senior R&D director, who’s already retired — who’d worked at Valio, the local dairy company — who kind of remembered this process and was thinking, ‘Oh, could we utilize this?’” recounted Ellilä. “Myself and one of my co-founders came across this public R&D project where this gentleman was involved. And we thought it was fascinating — seriously, paper engineers were making alternative proteins in the ’70s?!”
“We thought it was fascinating — seriously, paper engineers were making alternative proteins in the ’70s?!”
Numerous old style detective work adopted to get well as a lot manufacturing data as potential. “We started digging up everything we could find. There was still a lot of paper sources if you knew where to look,” he stated. “We’ve done a lot of incredible detective work — like we’ve literally gone to old phone books finding some of these people.”
The motivation driving the founders is obvious: Different proteins are a way more substantial industrial finish, in and of themselves, nowadays — on rising demand for sustainable alternate options to meat. Enifer is bullish there’s a long-term alternative to revive Pekilo. In essence: The mycoprotein’s greatest days might but lie forward.
First manufacturing unit absolutely funded
The startup has simply closed out a Sequence B funding spherical to finish and operationalize its first manufacturing unit — at a complete price of €33 million — situated in Kirkkonummi, Finland, near the ocean (which offers a supply of cooling water to maintain fermenter tanks on the proper temperature).
“The fungal metabolism is really active,” Ellilä famous. “It’s like the fungus is on a treadmill in there. So it’s really generating heat and you need to remove that heat.”
Enifer says the manufacturing unit would be the world’s first industrial plant to provide a mycoprotein ingredient from meals trade sidestream uncooked supplies — or, put one other approach, this biorefining enterprise is about turning waste into prime quality protein. (Whereas the fungus that produces Quorn is usually fed with glucose.)
The Sequence B consists of €15M in fairness funding led by the Finnish personal fairness fund Taaleri Bioindustry Fund I, with follow-on investments from present shareholders Nordic Foodtech VC, Voima Ventures, and Valio (the aforementioned dairy big).
The Finnish Local weather Fund has additionally prolonged a €7M junior mortgage to help the venture. Plus Enifer secured a €2M Local weather and Environmental Mortgage from Finnvera. It additionally beforehand reported a €12M recycling/reuse funding grant from Enterprise Finland, making its first manufacturing unit absolutely funded.
As soon as as much as full scale the fermenting and processing plant will produce 500kg of the alt protein per hour. It says it expects to have the ability to begin ramping up operations in 2026 however Ellilä confirmed it is going to take about three years to get to full manufacturing capability. If all goes nicely, extra factories might comply with.
One of many key variations with Pekilo for food-grade consumption is the sidestreams used. Wooden pulp was superb for animal feed however new sidestreams are required to increase the product’s utility. Dairy trade waste — resembling lactose — is one Enifer says works nicely as a feedstock for the fungus, so you possibly can see why Valio is investing.
Whereas the alt protein area can appear fairly crowded nowadays, with many types of plant-based and mycoprotein already out there, one other factor that’s comparatively novel about Pekilo is it’s processed right into a dry powder (steam is used to dry the fungus after it’s harvested).
Ellilä says that makes it significantly fascinating to the meals trade — as a long-shelf life ingredient that may simply be dropped into present recipes and processing strategies.
The food-grade model of Pekilo additionally has a light and impartial taste — making it appropriate for a variety of makes use of, from savory meals to candy. “The feed-grade product does have a very characteristic flavor but we need to do some extra processing to make it food-grade and there the flavor is completely lost,” he famous.
One pattern product he mentions they provide to guests is a chocolate cake with flour swapped out for Pekilo. Different potential makes use of embody patties, chilly cuts and even yogurts and cheeses. Enifer intends to stay a B2B participant, although — its culinary experiments are purely to showcase the mycoprotein’s potential to prospects within the meals trade.
On pricing, Ellilä says they need the product to be cheaper than pea protein — suggesting, if profitable, Pekilo might nibble away at another alt protein’s marketshare (though he additionally notes there are dietary variations that may imply utilizing a mix of alt proteins is greatest).
“How I like to think about it is what we want to achieve is trying to contribute both to bringing down the cost of these products and improving the quality of the next generation of plant based,” he added.
Making use of for novel meals clearance
Earlier than Enifer’s mycoprotein might be folded into meals for human consumption, the startup might want to achieve regulatory clearance for Pekilo as a novel meals. So there’s an extended utility course of forward of it.
Ellilä says they’re making ready an utility to file with regulators within the European Union, and can possible goal Singapore subsequent, adopted by the US.
He sounds assured they are going to — “eventually” — get the inexperienced gentle to promote Pekilo as a novel human meals. “I do feel that we have an exceptionally strong case… because a mycoprotein is not entirely new,” he argued.
“It’s another species of fungus. But, still, it’s not, you know, something outrageous. It’s actually not that distantly related — as an organism — to Fusarium, which Quorn uses. And then there’s mounds of evidence of its safety in pigs and chicken and all kinds of organisms.”
“We have so many so much scientific material from back in the day. Which is not the case for many other applicants,” he additionally prompt, including: “I’m sure we’ll get it eventually.”
Enifer can be creating Pekilo to be used in pet meals which provides it a market it could entry in the intervening time. Plus it’s nonetheless contemplating animal feed use-cases, too — paying homage to Pekilo’s origins — however the economics are tougher to stack up so companions can be wanted.
Ellilä says they’re speaking with corporations with massive volumes of sidestreams they’d wish to upcycle over potential partnerships. “We definitely haven’t given up on animal nutrition,” he stated, including: “We’re in talks with a lot of companies to say let’s build a joint venture… and then we wouldn’t have to chip in all the capital.”
