AROMA COMPANY EVODIABIO SECURES $6.4 MILLION CAPITAL RAISE
Denmark’s EvodiaBio, which makes sustainable aromas for the food and beverage industry using precision fermentation, has secured $6.4 million (€6.03m) to safeguard its growth plans.
The capital raised — $2 million from Danish accelerator, the BioInnovation Institute (funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation), and $4.4 million from several international industry players — will support the company’s expansion into the non-alcoholic beer industry and other sectors. Among the investors were German flavour house Symrise, which steps in as a strategic investor, and Nordic Foodtech VC, the lead investor.
EvodiaBio was founded just 1.5 years ago and Jarne Elleholm, co-founder and chairman, commented: “The funding was made possible thanks to strong support from the BioInnovation Institute and by the great progress we have made during our short lifetime.”
Going after non-alcoholic beer
According to Elleholm, non-alcoholic beer is the first segment that EvodiaBio will address “as getting the taste of the beer right has been a major challenge for the brewing industry”. The company’s newly developed aroma blend, called Yops (see image above), can improve the taste of non-alcoholic beer, and serves as a sustainable alternative to cultivated aroma hops. In the longer term, the bio-industrial company will develop aromas for other beverages, perfume, and a range of other segments.
EvodiaBio’s monoterpenoid aromas are produced using yeast cells that secrete the individual aroma components. They are then combined to mimic the aroma profiles of different hops. The result is a natural, pure, and sustainable product. The technology has been developed after years of research by the scientific co-founders, Prof. Sotirios Kampranis, Dr. Simon Dusséaux, and Dr. Victor Forman.
Its approach enables, for the first time, cost-effective and sustainable biotechnological production of the volatile aroma molecules from hops. Using EvodiaBio’s solution, brewers can avoid depleting limited plant resources, while water and CO2 emissions are reduced by more than 90%.
A shared vision
The German flavour and fragrance producer Symrise also wants future collaboration, hence its investment in the brand. Nick Russell, the SVP of the business incubation group at Symrise, said: “We share with EvodiaBio the same vision for a greener future and believe that precision fermentation technology will greatly contribute to a more sustainable flavour and fragrance industry.”
A recently appointed board member of EvodiaBio is Flemming Besenbacher, the former chairman of Carlsberg and the Carlsberg Foundation. He said: “EvodiaBio is a very promising project that solves an industry challenge, which I excitedly have been involved in solving, and I look forward to being part of the further developments, we are beginning now.”
The next step for EvodiaBio is to establish its own offices, laboratories, and pilot-production in Denmark. The company is now preparing for the launch of Yops in 2023, when it also expects to increase staffing.
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