NEW TECH FOODS

Swedish biotech start-up Melt&Marble has raised €7.3 million in Series A funding, to scale production of its precision-fermented ‘designer fat’ ingredients.

The round was led by Swedish deep-tech investor Industrifonden, with participation from the European Commission’s European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and strategic partners Beiersdorf and Valio.

Further backing came from Chalmers Ventures and Catalyze Capital. The EIC Accelerator also supported with an additional €2.5 million grant in 2024, bringing funding to a total of €10 million over the past year.

Melt&Marble, which is headquartered in Gothenburg, produces ingredients designed to provide sustainable and high-performance alternatives to conventional oils and fats. The market opportunity for oils, fats and lipids relevant to Melt&Marble’s platform is currently said to be worth more than $100 billion.

The company is targeting both the food and personal care industries – in food, applications include meat and dairy alternatives, chocolate confectionery, bakery and specialised nutrition.

Traditional fats such as palm and coconut oil, and animal-based sources, are often associated with challenges regarding performance, supply chain volatility and environmental impact. Melt&Marble’s precision fermentation platform aims to address this, offering tailored, animal-free fat structures designed to unlock ‘superior functionality,’ including enhanced texture and mouthfeel in food applications.

With the new funding, the company will move from demo to market-ready, with its first ingredients set for commercial launch in personal care applications initially, from 2026. Production volumes will be delivered through an existing commercial manufacturing partner to ensure capex-light scalability.

Alongside focusing on Europe, Melt&Marble is also preparing for food market entry in the US, where regulatory pathways currently allow for faster deployment. The start-up is also eyeing other regions for further expansion.

Collaboration on co-development products with partners is currently underway as the company looks toward its next phase of growth, supported by this latest funding milestone.

Thomas Cresswell, CBO of Melt&Marble, said: “We’re entering a new era where fats and lipids are no longer seen as commodities alone, but also as precision ingredients that can drive performance, improve health and support sustainability”.

“With the support of our visionary partners, we are now in a position to bring this new generation of ingredients to market, designed with intention to meet the demands of modern food and personal care.”

Susanna Kallio, vice president at Valio, said that food produced through cellular agriculture methods such as precision fermentation will be “a significant part of our future food system”.

She added: “To advance cellular agriculture solutions, collaboration between established companies and start-ups is essential. Melt&Marble’s designer fats, produced via cellular agriculture, are full of potential for developing new, interesting products for the store shelf and injecting dynamic new concepts into our food system.”