French foodtech startup Fungu’it has raised €4 million funding. The company, founded in 2022, harnesses the unique potential of filamentous fungi to transform agricultural by-products — such as flaxseed and sunflower press cakes, or legumes — into rich, complex, and powerful natural flavorings.
Using an innovative and sustainable solid-state fermentation process, Fungu’it converts often-overlooked by-products into high-value ingredients. This resource-efficient method significantly reduces water and energy consumption compared to traditional production.
The startup has successfully stabilized two key flagship ingredients:
- A meaty umami flavor specifically developed for plant-based alternatives.
- A sustainable and innovative chocolate flavor that can reduce the use of cocoa in a recipe by up to 25 per cent. This solution not only lowers dependence on cocoa but also helps curb deforestation and reduce CO₂ emissions linked to intensive cocoa production.
According to Anas Erridaoui, CEO and co-founder of Fungu’it, the company’s technology transforms the creation of natural, sustainable, and high-performance flavourings, while upcycling often-wasted by-products.
“This circular, innovative approach is established as a key driver of transformation for the agro-food sector, moving towards a healthy, long-lasting, and affordable diet.
We want to restore purpose in what we eat, without compromise. Through fermentation, we reveal the richness of overlooked raw materials to create flavours that are more accurate, vibrant, and accessible.”
In 2022, the food flavoring industry in France generated €730 million in revenue. This sector offers high gross margins — around 50 per cent — with relatively controlled industrial investment. The increasing shift toward the use of natural products and the reduction of synthetic ingredients creates a favorable environment for innovative technologies like Fungu’it's.
Asterion Ventures led the investment with participation from Evolem and UI Investissement via Oser BFC.
“Fungu’it addresses a real friction point in the agri-food industry: how to do better — more natural, more circular—without compromising on performance. It’s a breakthrough innovation in a strained market, driven by a team with proven industrialization expertise,” says Juliette Delanoë, Partner at Asterion Ventures.
The funding will enable Fungu’it to build an industrial pilot plant with a production capacity of several dozen tons per year, patent and industrialise its process, and develop a unique database from testing hundreds of combinations of strains and by-products.
The startup also plans to strengthen its sales team to accelerate the commercialisation of its first flavorings, particularly in the fast-growing plant-based alternatives segment.
Lead image: Fungu’it. Photo: uncredited.
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments