Danish startup Summ Ingredients (formerly Nutrumami) has secured €1.7M ($2M) in funding to bring its multifunctional fermented protein FermiPro to market.
Having spent years in the fine-dining space as a culinary director and restauranteur, Frederik Jensen knows a thing or two about flavour and mouthfeel.
These also happen to be two of the most common pain points surrounding plant-based food. Despite the trove of meat and dairy alternatives, many omnivores and flexitarians remain unsatisfied with the current status quo.
Jensen wants to change that. In 2022, he founded Nutrumami to unlock game-changing proteins with an age-old trick: fermentation. His goal was to provide the plant-based industry with an ingredient that would add umami and kokumi (Japanese for “rich taste” and characterised by mouthfeel, thickness, and a sense of lingering) to products while delivering a protein and textural boost.
Three years on, Jensen is closer than ever to bringing his first ingredient, a multifunctional protein dubbed FermiPro, to market. Newly rebranded as Summ Ingredients, his startup has just closed a €1.7M ($2M) funding round in the worst investment landscape for food tech in a decade.
“We realised our previous name no longer reflected the real extent of our vision. We are not just launching a single ingredient – we are helping to shape an entirely new ingredient category: multifunctional ingredients that make it easier to create cleaner, healthier, and tastier foods,” he tells Green Queen.
“Our new name, Summ Ingredients, reflects this ambition: it’s about the ‘Summ’ of functions we bring together – taste, texture, and nutrition – and the ‘Summ’ impact we can create for food producers, consumers, and the planet,” he adds.
The investment takes the Danish firm’s total raised just past €2M ($2.3M), with EIFO and BoxOne joining existing investors Kost Capital and Planetary Impact Ventures, and will support its plan to launch FermiPro this autumn.
“The funding will primarily be used to scale production, support commercialisation, and expand our technology platform as we build the business and the market opportunity ahead of us,” says Jensen.
FermiPro can usher in a new era for meat and dairy alternatives
Summ Ingredients explains FermiPro as an “entirely new toolkit” for food producers, helping unlock the craveable depth found in meat, building texture and mouthfeel without gums, starches or other additives, and boosting protein, mineral and vitamin B content. It’s made from just three ingredients: fava beans, oats, and salt.
“FermiPro delivers a rich umami flavour, but also kokumi – the ‘mouthfulness’ sensation that, combined, creates depth and complexity. This not only enhances taste but also enables salt reduction without sacrificing flavour,” explains Jensen.
“Our first version provides emulsification and creaminess for sauces, soups, and plant-based dairy alternatives. A second version following offers gelling properties ideal for plant-based and hybrid meats,” he adds. “Beyond high-quality protein, FermiPro supports better macro- and micronutrient profiles because the taste and texture improvements make it easier to include more nutritious ingredients.”
For example, the Copenhagen-based firm has created non-dairy cheese prototypes that, when enriched with FermiPro, exhibit double-digit protein content, 30% less fat, and a richer taste and texture than the market standard.
The ingredient similarly provides protein-rich creaminess and natural umami for dairy- and starch-free sauces in ready meals, and allows manufacturers to reduce salt by 30% while scoring high in sensory testing.
In plant-based and blended meat applications, FermiPro can enhance the juiciness, texture and flavour depth without additional flavourings or binders like methycellulose. By eschewing the need for additives, it will appeal to consumers looking for clean-label products.
How Summ Ingredients’ fermentation process works
To make its proteins, Summ Ingredients employs a cross-fermentation process, inspired by wild fermentation methods where multiple microbes interact naturally. “We bring this into a controlled industrial process, where each stage builds on the previous one,” says Jensen.
“Technically, it’s a sequential biotransformation: different microorganisms act in synergy, using the modified environment and byproducts created at each stage. This interaction enables flavour and functionality outcomes that a single fermentation step can’t achieve.”
Summ Ingredients uses a combination of solid-state and submerged fermentation. “The entire biomass is then dried into a final powder ingredient that is, for most parts, quite standard,” he says.
“What makes our process innovative isn’t the physical equipment — it’s the way we combine different fermentation techniques, microorganisms, and process conditions to unlock multifunctionality in taste, texture, and nutrition.”
While the startup describes itself as “raw-material-agnostic” and is working on several products with different substrates, it found fava beans and oats to be the best fit for FermiPro, both in terms of nutrition and functionality. “They also align well with consumer preferences for wholesome, familiar ingredients,” says Jensen.
Speaking of which, its second multifunctional ingredient is focused on sugar reduction. “We see huge opportunities to bring multifunctionality to sweet and semi-sweet categories, where sugar reduction is one part of a broader challenge we see here,” he notes.
“Our next-generation ingredient in development targets sweetness enhancement, mouthfeel, and flavour complexity to help manufacturers create indulgent yet healthier products.”
FermiPro can be effective in low concentrations
Jensen’s startup has filed two patent applications and built a technology roadmap for multifunctional ingredients with a whole host of applications, from non-dairy cheese and meat alternatives to umami-packed boullions, seasonings and snacks.
“FermiPro is a dry, shelf-stable ingredient that slots easily into existing processes without equipment changes,” says Jensen. “We provide tailored product solutions for key application areas, with clear recommendations for ingredient replacement and inclusion levels.”
Though it varies by application, he suggests that the FermiPro’s inclusion rate typically ranges between 2.5% and 4.5% of the final product formulation.
Summ Ingredients’ current capacity is up to six tonnes per batch. “We have demonstrated cost parity or even cost reductions compared to conventional solutions, thanks to the multifunctionality replacing multiple single-purpose ingredients,” the CEO reveals.
“We are a pure B2B company with a broad pipeline across EU and UK food brands, both directly and through contract manufacturers,” adds Jensen. “We already have [our] first customer orders, and are doing production now. The first consumer products using FermiPro will launch later this year.”
The post Exclusive: Summ Ingredients Nabs $2M to Transform Plant-Based Food with Fermented Proteins appeared first on Green Queen.
This post was originally published on Green Queen.