Vinnova, the Swedish Innovation Agency, has awarded Mycorena and Volta Greentech a grant called “The good and sustainable everyday food of the future - innovations in support of a plant-based shift”.  It will be used for a collaborative project that will explore the repurposing of fungi and algae production waste to create a combined circular technology solution.

In the new research project, both companies will explore the possibility of using CO₂ produced in the fermentation process of fungi to grow macroalgae. The project is a perfect exploration of how we can use resources more efficiently and aims to make an important contribution to the development of more sustainable food systems especially focusing on carbon fixation.

Mycorena, a Swedish food tech company, aims to create fungi-based products that will have a major impact on the global sustainability challenges. They have developed a proprietary process based on fungi biotechnology, to create vegan protein for food products in the most resource-efficient and sustainable way. They aim for this project to find one of many areas where their technology can contribute to taking additional leaps of creating a carbon-neutral fermentation process.

“Fermentation is one of the key solutions to solving the food challenges and being a company heavily focused on developing innovations around fungi fermentation, we are excited to initiate this project with Volta Greentech to investigate more sustainable aspects of our fermentation process. We are two companies with like-minded ambitions and through our collaborative efforts, we believe we can create innovative solutions.” – Carlos Nunez-Otero, project coordinator and R&D Scientist at Mycorena. 

Volta, a Swedish greentech company committed to change, is on a mission to reduce methane emissions from cows through the algae-based feed. With a dedicated team of innovators and a love for technology, they aim to bring climate innovations to the market at a scale that creates a real measurable impact.

"Our companies are very similar in many ways, from the stage we're into our mission to change the food industry for the better. In a sense it feels very natural to be working together; and what more fitting project than finding ways to use each other's side streams? I am very excited and looking forward to this project!" - Angelo Demeter, Volta Greentech AB, Co-founder / Chief Product Officer.