Nordic Startup News Early Stage Startup News From The Nordics
The industry award winning Nordic Mushrooms product line by KÄÄPÄ Biotech, a Finnish biotechnology startup, has caught the attention of major global nutritional supplement manufacturers. The demand on the wholesale product line has increased rapidly and therefore KÄÄPÄ Biotech is now entering into the Series A investment stage to scale up the production capacity to match the high international demand on these medicinal mushroom extracts.
By Marianne Kiviluoma
The medicinal mushroom market has experienced fast growth during the past few years. Until now, the market has lacked high quality, innovative, transparent and sustainable options. The rising demand on premium quality organic medicinal mushroom ingredients has inspired KÄÄPÄ Biotech to develop the Nordic Mushrooms product line. The product line includes Finnish grown organic chaga (Inonotus obliquus), reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), shiitake (Lentinula edodes), lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus) and maitake (Grifola frondosa).
“As a pioneer within the nutritional supplement industry, KÄÄPÄ implements the industry’s megatrends of sustainability, transparency and traceability. Sustainability is an integral part of KÄÄPÄ Biotech‘s business model. We have developed a fully transparent supply chain, focusing on organic Finnish grown ingredients, controlled from spore to shipment”, says Eric Puro, CEO of KÄÄPÄ Biotech.
Extensive research and development
KÄÄPÄ Biotech has done extensive research on the compounds of interest found in medicinal mushrooms. These include beta-glucans and many others. The high-tech production methods used by KÄÄPÄ offer a safer and more effective means to produce the purest and most potent mushroom extracts on the market.
“We have developed industry-leading ultrasonic-assisted extraction technology which is optimized for the bioavailability of the compounds of interest in our mushroom extracts. We are constantly researching, developing and commercializing new mushroom-based product innovations through the latest scientific methods available”, Eric Puro says.
Time to scale up the production
The Series A investment will be utilized in scaling up the production capacity of the Nordic Mushrooms product line. KÄÄPÄ Biotech has developed unique growing methods for the mushrooms used to produce the Nordic Mushrooms extracts. The mushroom supply amounts will be scaled to match the demand by upgrading the indoor growing facilities, and the production equipment will be scaled up to produce larger batches of the product line.
“By raising the capital, it will be possible for us to say yes for all the large new customers. The feedback from the industry tells us that our product line is what the market has been waiting for. We are now looking for one to three strategic partners to raise 3 Million Euros to support our growth strategy and enter into industrial manufacturing stage”, Eric Puro says.
