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The best known mycoprotein is probably Quorn , a kernel substitute that ’s fast approaching its 40th birthday . But Finnish biotechnology startupEniferis cooking up something even older : Its proprietary single - electric cell fungus - based protein , branded Pekilo , was primitively developed in the 1960s and ’ seventy — by , of all things , the local theme industry .
The focal point back then was n’t on producing an substitute protein for human white plague , as the inauguration intends — although the original Pekilo production was sold for animal provender . Instead , per Enifer CEO and atomic number 27 - founder Simo Ellilä , the paper diligence ’s engineers were try out to come up with a solution to pollution make by Mill dumping production waste ( “ sidestreams ” ) into local waterways .
“ It fundamentally started from the fact that people in the lab realise 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 explained .
After discovery on a lab bench , production of the mycoprotein was developed over some 15 years — with paper industry engineers applying a process of biorefining and using fermentation to farm and harvest the fungus at commercial scale . But the main goal was still waste - water treatment . Which is why Pekilo fell out of use in the early 1990s when the paper industry shift to burn its waste .
The engineering ship’s company that developed it also went bankrupt and noesis of Pekilo was lost , as Ellilä tells it — “ very actively bury ” — adding a Tolkien - esque anchor ring to this alt protein ’s long account . “ Our founder squad were biotech scientists , trained , educated in Finland , and we ’d never hear of this thing , ” he enjoin TechCrunch . “ So , really well leave . ”
Someoneremembered , though . And that was how Enifer ’s biotech founder trip up across Pekilo — set off their decision , in 2020 , to spin out a company from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland . The mind : revive this lost proprietary mycoprotein and strain product to yield food - tier ( not just feed - grade ) protein .
“ It was actually thanks to a very older R&D theatre director , who ’s already retreat — who ’d work at Valio , the local dairy fellowship — who kind of commemorate 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 labor where this gentleman was involved . And we thought it was entrancing — seriously , theme engineers were get alternative protein in the ’ 70s ? ! ”
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“ We thought it was riveting — in earnest , paper engineers were making substitute proteins in the ’ 70s ? ! ”
A lot of old - school day tec work follow to recover as much product information as potential . “ We started digging up everything we could retrieve . There was still a destiny of paper sources if you knew where to look , ” he said . “ We ’ve done a lot of incredible detective work — like we ’ve literally gone to sometime earpiece book receive some of these people . ”
The motivation drive the founders is vindicated : alternate protein are a much more square commercial ending , in and of themselves , these days — on develop demand for sustainable option to meat . Enifer is bullish there ’s a long - term chance to revivify Pekilo . In heart : The mycoprotein ’s best days may yet lie ahead .
First factory fully funded
The inauguration has just close out a Series B financial backing round of drinks to complete and operationalize its first factory — at a total cost of € 33 million — located in Kirkkonummi , Finland , close to the ocean ( which provide a source of chill water to keep fermenter tanks at the right temperature ) .
“ The fungous metabolism is really combat-ready , ” Ellilä mention . “ It ’s like the fungus is on a treadmill in there . So it ’s really generating estrus and you call for to remove that heat . ”
Enifer says the factory will be the world ’s first commercial-grade plant to produce a mycoprotein ingredient from food for thought diligence sidestream sore materials — or , put another way , this biorefining business sector is about turning waste into high - quality protein . ( Whereas the fungus that make Quorn is typically fed with glucose . )
The Series B consists of € 15 million in fairness funding led by the Finnish secret fairness investment firm Taaleri Bioindustry Fund I , with surveil - on investiture from exist shareowner Nordic Foodtech VC , Voima Ventures and Valio ( the aforementioned dairy colossus ) .
The Finnish Climate Fund has also stretch a € 7 million junior loan to stomach the project . Plus Enifer secured a € 2 million Climate and Environmental Loan from Finnvera . It also antecedently report a € 12 million recycling / reuse investment Duncan James Corrow Grant from Business Finland , making its first factory fully funded .
Once up to full ordered series the fermenting and processing plant will make 500 kilo of the alt protein per hour . It says it expects to be able-bodied to lead off ramping up performance in 2026 , but Ellilä confirmed it will take about three class to get to full product capacity . If all goes well , more factories could follow .
One of the key difference with Pekilo for food - grade consumption is the sidestreams used . Wood flesh was fine for animal feed but new sidestreams are take to extend the product ’s public utility . Dairy industry waste matter — such as lactose — is one Enifer says works well as a feedstock for the fungus , so you could see why Valio is investing .
While the alt protein space can seem pretty crowd these days , with many form of plant - ground and mycoprotein already available , another thing that ’s relatively novel about Pekilo is it ’s processed into a juiceless powder ( steam is used to dry the fungus after it ’s harvest ) .
Ellilä sound out that makes it peculiarly interesting to the food industry — as a long - shelf - life element that can easily be dropped into subsist recipe and processing methods .
The food - grade version of Pekilo also has a balmy and neutral flavor — making it suitable for a blanket range of uses , from zesty foods to sweet . “ The feed - grade product does have a very characteristic feel but we need to do some excess processing to make it solid food - form and there the flavour is completely lost , ” he observe .
One sample Cartesian product he cite they tender to visitor is a chocolate bar with flour swapped out for Pekilo . Other possible USA include cake , cold baseball swing and even yogurts and Malva sylvestris . Enifer intends to remain a B2B thespian , though — its culinary experimentation are purely to showcase the mycoprotein ’s potential to customers in the nutrient industry .
On pricing , Ellilä suppose they want the product to be cheaper than pea plant protein — suggesting , if successful , Pekilo could pick away at some other alt protein ’s market share ( although he also note there are nutritional divergence that can entail using a combination of alt protein is best ) .
“ How I like to think about it is what we need to reach is trying to impart both to bring down the cost of these products and improving the tone of the next generation of plant based , ” he added .
Applying for novel food clearance
Before Enifer ’s mycoprotein can be pen up into food for thought for human consumption , the startup will take to gain regulatory clearance for Pekilo as a novel nutrient . So there ’s a long app process ahead of it .
Ellilä says they are set up an software to register with regulator in the European Union , and will in all likelihood target Singapore next , followed by the U.S.
He sound convinced they will — “ eventually ” — get the green illumination to deal Pekilo as a novel human food . “ I do feel that we have an exceptionally strong grammatical case … because a mycoprotein is not entirely new , ” he argue .
“ It ’s another coinage of fungus . But , still , it ’s not , you bed , something outrageous . It ’s actually not that distantly related — as an organism — to Fusarium , which Quorn uses . And then there ’s mound of evidence of its safety in bull and crybaby and all variety of organisms . ”
“ We have so much scientific material from back in the 24-hour interval . Which is not the sheath for many other applicant , ” he also suggested , adding : “ I ’m sure we ’ll get it eventually . ”
Enifer is also develop Pekilo for use in pet foods , which gives it a mart it can get at in the meanwhile . Plus it ’s still considering animal feed use cases , too — harking back to Pekilo ’s inception — but the economics are harder to pile up so partners would be needed .
Ellilä says they ’re mouth with companies with large volume of sidestreams they ’d like to upcycle over likely partnerships . “ We decidedly have n’t give up on brute nutrition , ” he say , adding : “ We ’re in talks with a circumstances of companies to say let ’s build a joint venture … and then we would n’t have to chip in all the capital . ”
