Green Spot Technologies Raises €5M to Scale Cocoa-Free Chocolate Made from Food Waste
- Sharon Cittone
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
French startup secures funding to launch its fermented, upcycled ingredient brand Milatea as the cocoa crisis deepens and sustainable indulgence takes centre stage.
As climate shocks, deforestation, and record-high prices disrupt the global cocoa market, France’s Green Spot Technologies is reshaping how the world thinks about chocolate. The Toulouse-based food tech startup has raised €5 million ($5.8 million) to scale its fermented, upcycled ingredients and launch Milatea, a new line of cocoa-free chocolate alternatives designed for the bakery, pastry, and confectionery industries.
The round, combining equity and bank loans, was led by Team for the Planet, with support from the European Innovation Council (EIC), EIT Food, and new angel investors. The capital will help Green Spot increase annual production tenfold, from 100 to 1,000 tonnes, and expand its fermentation technology platform, which transforms food waste into high-performance, low-carbon ingredients.
Founded by Ninna Granucci and Silas Boas, Green Spot collects byproducts such as grape pomace, fava beans, apple fibre, and spent brewer’s grain, fermenting them through a solid-state, GMO-free process that enhances protein content, flavour, and functionality while consuming 60% less water than traditional methods. The result is nutrient-rich powders, fillings, and chips that perform like cocoa but carry a fraction of its environmental impact.
The company’s new Milatea brand includes powdered cocoa substitutes stable in baking and freezing, vegan-friendly dark and milk-style chips, and cocoa-free fillings that replace both cocoa and palm oil. These formulations can reduce CO₂e emissions by up to 80% compared to traditional chocolate manufacturing. “Milatea is building bridges with chefs, researchers, and industrial players to make sustainable indulgence both scalable and accessible,” the company stated.
“We’re proud to see our investors renew their trust and to welcome new partners who share our vision—fermenting the future of food,” added co-founder and CEO Ninna Granucci.
Backed by Europe’s Deep-Tech Powerhouse
Green Spot’s rise is also backed by Europe’s innovation engine. The startup is part of the EIC Scaling Club, a new initiative led by the European Innovation Council and Bpifrance that unites Europe’s top 100 deep-tech scaleups across key sectors such as food, health, energy, and materials. The Club connects high-impact innovators with corporates, investors, and mentors, offering tailored support and access to global markets.
For Green Spot, this affiliation strengthens its position as a European leader in fermentation-based ingredient innovation, providing visibility and resources to industrialise its cocoa-free solutions at scale.
Cocoa in Crisis, Innovation in Bloom
The timing is crucial. The price of cocoa has more than doubled in 2025, reaching historic highs as extreme heat, crop disease, and deforestation devastate yields in West Africa, where 70% of global cocoa is produced. The Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s leading suppliers, have already lost over 85% of their forest cover since 1960, and scientists warn that a third of cocoa trees could disappear by 2050.
Chocolate is also one of the planet’s most resource-intensive foods: producing a single bar requires 1,700 litres of water and emits more greenhouse gases than any other food except beef. As deforestation, child labour, and supply volatility persist, the search for sustainable, ethical alternatives has reached a tipping point.
This has fuelled a surge of innovation across the alt-cocoa sector. Germany’s Planet A Foods has partnered with Barry Callebaut to commercialise ChoViva, a fermented chocolate made from local grains and seeds. Italy's Foreverland and the UK’s Win-Win are also developing fermentation-based cocoa replacements, while biotech ventures like California Cultured and Celleste Bio are pioneering cell-based cocoa. Even legacy brands such as Lindt, Mondelēz International, and Puratos have begun investing in or testing cocoa-free formulations.
From Waste to Worth
What makes Green Spot’s model distinct is its circular design. By valorising food industry waste, responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the company creates a dual climate benefit: preventing waste-related emissions while replacing resource-heavy commodities like cocoa and palm oil. At pilot scale, its process has already prevented over 235 tonnes of food waste emissions, and its expansion aims to multiply that impact severalfold.
Beyond the environmental gains, Milatea offers supply chain resilience for manufacturers seeking alternatives to increasingly volatile cocoa markets. Its stable, locally sourced inputs make it a compelling option for brands under pressure to reduce costs, emissions, and dependency on fragile tropical crops.
As the global chocolate industry undergoes its biggest transformation in a century, Green Spot Technologies is proving that indulgence doesn’t have to come at the planet’s expense. With institutional backing from Europe’s top food innovation networks, its fermentation-powered, waste-upcycling model could mark the start of a new era, one where sustainability and pleasure truly coexist.