MATR Foods Expands Fermentation Frontier with €40M to Scale Fungi-Based Meat Across Europe

Courtesy: MATR Foods

The Copenhagen-based startup is using fermentation to turn oats, peas, and lupins into clean-label meat alternatives, combining Nordic simplicity with biotech precision.

In a year when many investors have grown cautious on alternative proteins, Denmark’s MATR Foods has done the opposite, closing a landmark €20 million round to bring its fungi-fermented, clean-label meat alternatives to international markets. The funding, split between €20 million in Series A equity and the previously announced €20 million in venture debt, marks the largest food-tech raise in Denmark this year and signals a quiet confidence returning to the fermentation frontier.

The round was co-led by Novo Holdings and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), with additional venture debt provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB). For MATR, the capital will unlock industrial-scale production at a new site in Ansager, Jutland, moving output from pilot levels to 4,000 tonnes annually by 2027, while creating around 60 new jobs.

Founded in 2021 in Copenhagen, MATR uses a proprietary solid-state fermentation process to transform locally sourced organic ingredients, oats, split peas, lupins, beetroots, and potatoes into richly flavoured meat alternatives that deliver on taste, nutrition, and sustainability. The result is a range of whole-food, minimally processed products with deep umami profiles and a carbon footprint 94% lower than beef.

“Our products are real food, made from whole organic vegetables and legumes, no additives, no shortcuts,” says Randi Wahlsten, MATR’s co-founder and CEO, and a former executive at dairy giant Arla Foods. “We’ve been sold out every month. Demand has been overwhelming, but production capacity has held us back. This funding finally allows us to unlock the scale needed to meet that demand.”

Courtesy: MATR Foods

MATR’s flagship Fungi Mince is already available through Danish restaurant chains such as Gasoline Grill, Sticks’n’Sushi, and Mother Pizza, as well as online via Nemlig.com and Aarstiderne. The company is also expanding internationally, with initial rollouts in Germany and Switzerland, including a partnership with the burger chain Freddy Schilling.

“With funding secured and construction underway, MATR’s next challenge is translating its local success into regional dominance,” says Wahlsten. “The next twelve months are all about scaling, internationalising, and preparing our brand, organisation, and production for this next phase.”

For investors like Novo Holdings, MATR represents a rare combination of biotechnology, gastronomy, and scalability. “This funding reflects not only our confidence in MATR’s organic, fermented products,” notes Thomas Grotkjær, Partner for Planetary Health Investments at Novo Holdings, “but also recognition that MATR meets consumers’ growing desire for foods that have a positive impact on health, climate, and the environment, without compromising on taste.”

Lasse Köhler, Investment Manager at EIFO’s Green Transition team, adds: “MATR Foods’ technology enables plant-based meat alternatives with a remarkably low carbon footprint, offering high culinary quality at a competitive price. This investment strengthens Denmark’s position in developing sustainable foods with significant export potential.”

While global investment in alternative protein has slowed, MATR’s raise stands out as a vote of confidence in fermentation as the next generation of protein technology. By focusing on whole ingredients, culinary quality, and measurable climate impact, MATR has managed to cut through investor fatigue and consumer skepticism that have challenged the category in recent years.

“There’s been some disappointment and impatience in the market,” admits Novo’s Grotkjær. “But changing food patterns is a marathon, not a sprint. The trend toward non-animal-derived foods remains strong, and companies like MATR are proving that taste, science, and scale can coexist.”

For MATR, that marathon is just beginning. As construction ramps up in Ansager and new markets open, Wahlsten believes the company’s ethos, clean, delicious, sustainable food made from real ingredients, will resonate far beyond Denmark’s borders.

“The problems we’re solving are too important to drop,” she says. “Consumers and chefs are looking for real answers. MATR is proof that better food doesn’t have to be complicated—it just has to be honest.”