Pitch: a startup using fermentation to upcycle food industry sidestreams into clean-label flavour ingredients for food manufacturers, initially targeting cheese applications.
Source: fermlabs
ID card
- HQ: Switzerland (production and R&D in Italy)
- Founded: 2025
- Funding: €3M
- Last Funding: €3M Seed (09/2026)
- Corporate investors: Loacker (Italian confectionery group)
- Partnerships: Ø
- Innovations: Fermentation platform to upcycle food industry sidestreams into concentrated clean-label B2B flavour ingredients.
- Competitors: limited direct competition in flavours (indirect: Fungu’it, France)
- Regulation: Ø (nothing disclosed)
More insights
- Ferm Labs developed a non-GMO microbial fermentation platform to upcycle food sidestreams into natural flavour ingredients, claiming to shorten processes that conventionally take weeks to hours.
- Kokumesan, its flagship ingredient, is made by upcycling liquid whey from cheese production into a concentrated ingredient providing aged-cheese flavour and kokumi functionality for industrial cheese applications.
- The ingredient is said to reduce raw cheese inclusion from 20% to <1% without sensory degradation, delivering 75% cost-in-use savings, while preventing fat and sodium build-up that can cause machine clogging and reduce shelf life.
- Beyond cheese, its platform targets umami and kokumi enhancement, salt and sugar reduction and clean-label formulation, across plant-based meat and dairy alternatives, soups, sauces, dressings, snacks, seasonings, ready meals and beverages.
For Symrise
Why did we select the startup?
- Ferm Labs is interesting due its focus on taste and flavour, using fermentation to develop clean-label ingredients for umami and kokumi enhancement, combined with salt and sugar reduction.
- Its focus on cost reduction is also quite representative of the evolution of the innovation ecosystem with startups now centered on the needs of the industry.
Source: fermlabs
Why now?
- Ferm Labs is moving towards industrial and commercial scale-up, supported by its recent €3M seed round to expand production capacity, European B2B sales and its ingredient pipeline.
- Loacker's investment also signals early food-industry interest, while Ferm Labs remains at an early-stage for potential technology or partnership opportunities.