Nosh.bio Partners with German Meat Giant to Debut Single-Ingredient Meat Analogue

German food tech startup Nosh.bio has collaborated with Zur Mühlen Group to introduce its fermentation-derived Koji Chunks, which are made from just one ingredient.

Nosh.bio, which uses fungi fermentation to create proteins, has unveiled its first product in partnership with Zur Mühlen Group (ZMG), a subsidiary of German meat giant Tönnies Group.

The new Koji Chunks are described as a “whole new category of clean-label products”, given that they are made up of just one ingredient – Nosh.bio’s fermented fungi ingredient – plus a marinade.

ZMG has also come on as an investor in a new fundraising round for the startup, which includes firms like ApolloCapital and Check24 Impact, as well as repeat investments from existing backers Earlybird, Clear Current Capital, Good Seed Ventures, and Grey Silo Ventures.

“This product is exciting because it hits on health, nutrition, sustainability, and cost, while being blatantly differentiated than the plant-based category,” Steve Molino, principal at Clear Current Capital, told Green Queen. “Now with this strategic partnership with Tönnies, they’ll be able to quickly reach a large group of consumers and build out the category for biomass in the European market.”

Axel Knau, CEO of ZMG, said: “The investment fits perfectly into our alternative protein strategy. With a very short ingredient list, it offers both taste and nutritional value at an affordable price.”

Meeting consumer needs for clean labels

Nosh.bio was founded in 2022 by CEO Tim Fronzek and CTO Felipe Lino, and uses its biomass fermentation tech to turn fungal biomass into single-ingredient single-ingredient meat analogues. The company argues that red meat products are the most challenging to recreate, while current alternatives can contain long ingredient lists and many chemical additives.

The startup suggests that its tech platform is highly efficient and cost-effective, while also delivering alternative proteins with taste, texture and health benefits.

It has been making inroads over the last year with several partnerships. In October 2023, it teamed up with Boston-based synbio firm Ginkgo Bioworks to use the latter’s cell programming platform to find protein-producing fungi strains with superior sensory profiles.

A month later, it set up a pilot plant in the Berliner Berg brewery, producing one to two tonnes of biomass per month and demonstrating the concept that breweries can co-produce food ingredients and beer at the same site.

And in May, it opened a commercial-scale factory in Dresden – retrofitting a former brewery – that can produce 1,000 tonnes of mycelium protein each year. Nosh.bio says this approach accelerates its route to market, improves its sustainability credentials, and lowers operating costs.

The Koji Chunks will be available in five flavours and first rolled out in Germany. The product speaks to growing consumer demand for cleaner-label foods. In 2022, a poll found that over two in three global consumers are influenced by clean-label claims, and that almost half would pay more for these products. The absence of additives, the use of natural ingredients, and sustainability positioning are the three most important indicators of such products.

The interest in clean labels was also striking in a survey focusing on fermented plant-based foods earlier this year, where 56% of EU consumers said it was important for these products to have short ingredient lists and be free from additives.

Latest fundraise demonstrates Nosh.bio’s ‘long-term potential’

ZMG is one of Europe’s leading sausage producers, and contributes to the €7B annualised revenue of Tönnies Group. Its extensive network of retailers and involvement in Nosh.bio’s latest fundraise will help the startup’s path to market.

“In only two years, the Nosh team has been able to not only build a company that can produce sustainable biomass ingredients in a way that can scale with a fraction of the CAPEX needs of others, but also position themselves to launch alongside impressive strategic partners,” Molino said.

“This round allows them to prove this is not an R&D project with long-term potential, but a here-and-now sustainable offering for consumers, starting with the German market,” he added.

Nosh.bio says the fresh capital will enable it to accelerate the mass market adoption of meat analogues, while partnering with ZMG highlights the sustainability potential of fermented fungi. But its fermentation process transcends meat alternatives – it can produce seafood analogues, confectionery, sauces, and health and wellness products.

The funding comes amid increasing VC interest in European fermentation startups, which raised more money in the first half of this year than all of 2023. They have also outfinanced plant-based and cultivated meat startups in 2024, making up 57% of all investments in the alternative protein sector.

In July, US plant-based player Elmhurst 1925 similarly launched a single-ingredient dehydrated chicken under its TerraMeat brand, marking its debut into meat analogues.