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 reduce 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 eliminating fat and sodium build-up to prevent machine clogging and extend 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 directly relevant to Symrise's taste and flavour activities, using fermentation to develop clean-label ingredients for umami and kokumi enhancement, salt and sugar reduction.
Its platform also combines flavour functionality with sidestream valorisation, with its first cheese application demonstrating potential for significant cost-in-use reduction.
Source: fermlabs
Why now?
Ferm Labs is moving from technology development 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 participation as an investor also signals early strategic food-industry interest, while Ferm Labs remains at an early enough stage for potential technology or partnership opportunities.