Millow raises €2M to scale mycelium protein, backed by €1.7B in Swedish tech exits — TFN

• Millow has raised €2 million from skilled Swedish tech buyers and Jan Enhager, who co-founded NOCCO.
• Millow’s predominant patent lately handed the EU opposition interval with none objections.
• Millow’s carbon footprint is 98% decrease than beef, in a sector the place a significant competitor went bankrupt in 2024.

Two co-founders of Swedish tech corporations, whose mixed exits whole €1.7 billion, have invested in an organization that makes protein from oats and fungi. 

Millow, a food-technology firm based mostly in Gothenburg, has closed a €2 million funding spherical to develop manufacturing and construct a business group for the Nordic foodservice market. The corporate beforehand acquired grants from the European Innovation Council Accelerator and now has about 14 staff, in accordance with PitchBook.

Magnus Emilson, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, led the spherical. He first invested in Millow in 2025 and has now elevated his stake. Emilson co-founded the web consultancy Thoughts in 1996, was an early investor in TradeDoubler and NA-KD, and based Go to Group and ESS Group, which run about 14 resorts and resorts in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. 

Jan Enhager, who co-founded Vitamin Nicely, the corporate behind NOCCO and Barebells, joined the spherical as each an investor and a proper strategic adviser to Öhrn. Vitamin Nicely brings in about €650 million in annual income. 

Two unnamed co-founders of Swedish tech corporations with mixed exits exceeding €1.7 billion additionally invested, alongside personal buyers from the Swedish meals sector.

Millow’s operations and why its patent issues

Millow was based in 2020, constructing on over 25 years of fermentation analysis by Prof. Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. In March 2026, the corporate named Fredrik Öhrn as its CEO. That very same month, Taherzadeh left his function on the College of Borås to hitch Millow full-time as chief scientific officer.

Millow’s patented solid-state fermentation course of turns Swedish oats and mycelium into protein utilizing simply two components, with no binders or components. The method makes use of solely three to 4 litres of water per kilogram of product. 

RISE has independently confirmed its carbon footprint at 0.32 kg CO₂e per kilogram, about 98% decrease than that of Swedish beef. Foodservice operators can cut back a dish’s footprint by swapping beef mince for Millow’s product, with out altering recipes or including components.

Alongside the funding spherical, the European Patent Workplace confirmed that the nine-month opposition interval for Millow’s predominant patent, EP 4 307 913, ended with no objections. This patent covers the low-water manufacturing methodology on the coronary heart of Millow’s course of, and its unchallenged standing removes a key danger for buyers taking a look at fermentation startups. 

Millow is backed by the EU’s EIC Accelerator and is speaking with foodservice operators and distributors throughout the Nordics, with rising curiosity from overseas.

Millow shouldn’t be the primary Gothenburg-based firm to scale fungi as a meat different

Mycorena, additionally from Gothenburg, raised a file Nordic Sequence A of €24 million in 2022, bringing its whole funding to over €35 million. After failing to safe Sequence B funding, Mycorena paused its large-scale manufacturing unit venture and filed for chapter in July 2024. Belgian biomass fermenter Naplasol acquired its belongings shortly after.

Scotland’s Sufficient, previously 3F Bio, has pursued a extra capital-intensive technique, raising over €95 million and supplying mycoprotein to Unilever and Marks & Spencer. Established model Quorn continues to carry unmatched retail distribution.

Not like Mycorena and Sufficient, which required giant investments in massive factories, Millow’s dry-state fermentation course of makes use of much less water and might attain foodservice scale sooner with out giant amenities. The grain-based mycelium meat alternate options market was price $18 million in 2025 and is predicted to develop to $285 million by 2036, at a 25.2% annual progress fee, in accordance with Future Market Insights.

Investor curiosity in meals and local weather ventures remains to be sturdy, even after Mycorena’s collapse. Nordic Foodtech VC recently closed a €40 million fund to help food-science startups within the Nordic and Baltic areas. Berlin’s FoodLabs additionally raised a €105 million third fund this yr for agriculture, meals safety, and well being startups. Nonetheless, buyers now wish to see a confirmed course of and a transparent business pipeline, not simply promising lab outcomes.

Mycorena’s collapse confirmed that the principle problem for mycoprotein was not the science, however the funds, particularly scaling from pilot to full manufacturing. Millow now has an unopposed patent, sufficient capital for foodservice growth, and buyers with expertise in scaling corporations. 

Whether or not €2 million and a small business group might be sufficient to keep away from the capital spending barrier that ended its predecessor’s independence will change into clear within the subsequent funding spherical.