The Berlin-based foodtech start-up Formo can report another success: Following the sales launch of its first vegan cheese alternatives at the beginning of September, the fermentation specialist has gained REWE Group as a new investor. As reported by the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, the retailer was involved in a recently announced Series B financing round in which Formo was able to raise fresh capital of 61 million US dollars. Formo has now raised a total of 117 million US dollars.

One of the largest foodtech financing rounds this year

In addition to REWE, previous investors such as Foodlabs and EQT Ventures were also involved in the investment. It is one of the biggest capital rounds for a German foodtech company this year, writes Handelsblatt. Formo also intends to use the fresh capital to drive forward its internationalization. In addition to Austria and Switzerland, the company wants to expand into other countries.

Formo's first animal-free cheese products have been available at Metro and REWE since the beginning of September. In addition to the cream cheese alternative “Frischhain”, there is also a vegan Camembert. Proteins from the koji mushroom are used to make the vegan cheese products. This is the filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae. Formo does not use the biomass of the fungus, but special proteins that the fungus produces through microfermentation. According to Formo, the protein is very similar to milk protein. 

The fast track to get to market

By using the koji mushroom, the Berlin-based food tech start-up has also found a way to bring its vegan cheese alternatives to market quickly. Unlike bioidentical milk proteins produced by precision fermentation, koji mushrooms and products fermented from them have been used as food for a long time and are therefore not a new food that has to be approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) under the Novel Food Regulation.

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