Mycelium Innovator Ecovative Raises $28M to Propel MyBacon Growth & Launch Eco-Leather

New York-based Ecovative has secured $28M in a growth equity round to expand its mycelium-based MyBacon product and introduce new sustainable leather materials.

To advance its food and fashion innovations, US mycelium startup Ecovative has closed a $28M financing round featuring strategic investors and existing shareholders.

The company behind brands like MyForest Foods, Forager, Mushroom Packaging and Grow.bio, Ecovative has now raised $145M since 2019. It now plans to expand the production and distribution of MyBacon, and introduce an alt-leather material for jackets and accessories under the Forager brand.

“The capital will be used to expand MyBacon from 600 to thousands of stores through 2025, providing the necessary working capital to support that growth,” Ecovative founder and CEO Eben Bayer told Green Queen. “We’ll also be launching Forager products with our customers, while onboarding new capacity to scale through 2026 and 2027.”

He outlined the company’s goal to “orchestrate material abundance” by growing performance materials for fashion and developing great-tasting foods with multi-pronged benefits. “This funding propels our mycelium technology forward, driving economic growth in regional communities and internationally,” he said.

Ecovative to launch Airloom alt-leather hides

Founded in 2007, Ecovative uses a proprietary AirMycelium technology to grow different strains of mushrooms for a variety of use cases. These are produced on an industrial scale in vertical farms, allowing it to grow three million sq ft of material annually on one acre of land.

“Our scientists carefully guide its geometric growth patterns and our sophisticated platform produces a wide selection of materials using only biological processes,” the company explains on its website.

The platform has spawned various products, from food and foams to sustainable plastic and leather alternatives. Ecovative is leveraging the platform in the US to make MyBacon, and in Europe to produce eco-friendly materials for apparel, consumer goods, accessories, and more as part of the Forager lineup.

It is now transforming Dutch mushroom farms into mycelium production facilities, which are also home to its upcoming AirLoom hides. These are supple leather-like materials that are grown in nine days with half the emissions of conventional leather.

These hides integrate into existing tannery infrastructure, offering leather tanneries an animal-free option that can help them lower their footprint while continuing to tap into their centuries of craftsmanship experience.

Ecovative now plans to commercialise the AirLoom hides for the 2025 season, and has attracted interest for its materials from brands like PVH (the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger), Vivobarefoot, Veja, and Reformation.

“We’re building a new model for abundance in New York that works globally. Our CAPEX-light approach leverages existing infrastructure efficiently, enabling fast growth and global market reach,” said Bayer. “We are delivering scalable biological manufacturing in traditionally hard industries like food and materials in a way that is responsive to the markets we serve and the investors that share our mission and vision.”

Over the next year, Ecovative is gaining to upgrade more farms with the AirMycelium technology, and it claims that several commercial mushroom farms have expressed their interest in joining its network of partner growers, representing an additional $100M in potential capacity.

MyBacon gains production boost with new facilities

While Forager prepares to roll out the AirLoom alt-leather, MyForest Foods is going from strength to strength. Ecovative cited Spins data showing that it is the fastest-growing plant-based meat brand in the northeast, selling three times as quickly as others.

The product – which only contains mycelium, coconut oil, sugar, salt, and natural flavours – can be found at over 600 retailers across the two coasts, including Whole Foods Market, Good Eggs, Erewhon, and Berkeley Bowl. It aims to expand into “thousands” of stores next year.

Ecovative has already used the fresh capital to build a new packaging facility for MyBacon at its Green Island headquarters, which has ramped up production capacity threefold. “That was just in the first month, so that is how we are going to get to be on more store shelves faster,” said Beyer.

Moreover, a new expanded manufacturing plant in Canada is helping the company scale up further, allowing it to bring an additional 1,000,000 lbs of product online by 2025. “We want to see MyBacon be a big success and that is our North Star at the moment,” he added.

The latest investment comes amid growing VC interest in fermentation and mycelium. Alternative protein startups saw funding dip by 44% last year, but while plant-based companies have struggled to recover, and cultivated meat startups are on track to secure a similar amount of capital, in the first half of this year, fermentation players have already obtained 90% of the money they did in all of 2023.

Four of the five largest investment rounds for alternative proteins this year belong to fermentation companies, and two of these deal with mycelium. Meati brought in the largest sum of any company in the space since its own previous fundraise in 2022, raising $100M in a Series C, while Infinite Roots closed a $58M Series B.

“Investments in mycelium and fermentation are growing because we’re delivering differentiated products with real benefits,” said Bayer. “What sets Ecovative apart is our AirMycelium technology, which is the only platform that connects these innovations with extremely good process economics. This combination allows us to scale efficiently and offer high-performance, sustainable solutions.”

The company has previously showcased a range of products made from its mycelium, including animal-free chicken, carb-less pasta and snacks, and clam and tuna analogues. “We are excited to bring these and others to the world with the same great clean farm-to-table promise,” he said.

“Right now, we just can’t keep MyBacon on the shelves, and with thousands of retailers on deck, we think that will hold true through 2025. So sit tight, have a bit of MyBacon, and enjoy