Ferm Labs Raises $3.2M to Shake Up the $72B Cheese Flavor Market

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-14

### A Swiss-Italian Startup Just Raised $3.2 Million to Reinvent Cheese Flavor Ferm Labs, a biotech startup based in Zug, Switzerland, with production in Bolzano, Italy, just closed a €3 million ($3.2 million) funding round. The company is on a mission to replace synthetic additives and expensive natural ingredients with something better: clean-label flavor systems made through precision fermentation. The round was led by CDP Venture Capital's Green Transition Fund (backed by NextGenerationEU), with participation from Fund F, Redstone (alongside Euregio+ and Alpine VC), and Loacker, a major player in the food industry. This mix of venture capital and strategic food-industry backing signals serious confidence in Ferm Labs' approach. ### What Ferm Labs Actually Does Founded in 2025 by Stephanie Lüpold (CEO) and Mattia Baroni (CTO), Ferm Labs is building a new category of B2B flavor ingredients. Their platform uses non-GMO microbes to accelerate fermentation from weeks to just hours. The result? High-yield, clean-label flavor pastes and powders that are free from E-numbers, added fats, and high sodium. The company's flagship product, Kokumesan, targets the industrial cheese market—a sector worth an estimated €68 billion ($72 billion) across the US and Europe. Kokumesan is made from upcycled liquid whey and delivers an authentic aged-cheese profile. According to Ferm Labs, it can cut a manufacturer's cost-in-use by 75% by reducing the amount of expensive raw cheese needed from 20% down to under 1%, all without sacrificing taste. > "The era of flavor trade-offs is officially over," says Lüpold. "Kokumesan proves what our platform can do in cheese flavoring, but it's just our launchpad. We're building a category-defining B2B ingredient engine." ### Why This Matters for Food Manufacturers Industrial food production has long faced a tough choice: use cheap synthetic additives or pay a premium for slow, costly natural ingredients. Ferm Labs claims to eliminate that trade-off. Their fermentation process upcycles low-value sidestreams into potent kokumi peptide profiles—compounds that enhance richness and mouthfeel. Beyond cost savings, Kokumesan also solves practical issues. It eliminates fat and sodium build-up, which prevents machine clogging and extends shelf life. That's a big deal for manufacturers running continuous production lines. ### What's Next for Ferm Labs With the fresh capital, Ferm Labs plans to expand bioprocessing capacity in South Tyrol, grow its European B2B sales force, and scale R&D for new product categories. The company is positioning itself as a key player in the shift toward natural, sustainable food ingredients. For those of us watching the European startup scene, Ferm Labs is one to keep an eye on. They're not just tweaking existing ingredients—they're rethinking how we produce flavor at scale. And with backing from both venture funds and industry insiders, they might just pull it off.