On a mission to make healthy ultra-processed foods, UK startup Modern Baker has secured £2.5M ($3.4M) in a Series A funding round.
While the furore around ultra-processed foods (UPFs) remains at fever pitch, one British startup is taking on the misconceptions that all such foods are bad for you.
Oxford-based Modern Baker, founded by Melissa Sharp and Leo Campbell in 2015, is banking on the food-as-medicine approach to reposition UPFs as a health-positive innovation. Its first proof-of-concept, dubbed Superloaf, is a seeded white bread that’s been available in the UK since 2021, which offers scientifically validated “radical” blood glucose and gut health benefits.
“This is about fixing UPFs, not fighting them. The real enemy isn’t processing or additives – it’s nutrient poverty,” argues Sharp. “We’re proving UPFs can be actively healthy, if done right.”
To accelerate this mission, Modern Baker has secured £2.5M ($3.4M) in a Series A round led by impact investor network Adjuvo. “Adjuvo’s backing brings not only capital, but also a strategic network with deep influence across retail, food, and consumer tech sectors,” said Campbell.
Can UPFs be healthy?
“The idea of a ‘healthy UPF’ may sound audacious – but it’s the only credible solution to the trillion-pound cost of poor diet,” Campbell noted. “And we have living proof in Superloaf and its lab-validated data. This is transformative – for public health, and for UK PLC as a new global hub of health innovation.”
UPFs make up 57% of the average British diet, and up to 80% when it comes to children or people with lower incomes. Around two-thirds of calories consumed by adolescents also come from these products. Meanwhile, 64% of UK adults are either overweight or living with obesity, while a sixth of the population has type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
Many studies have linked UPFs to these conditions, alongside cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and even early death. However, experts have flagged inconsistencies in the way these studies are conducted and stated that just because a food is processed doesn’t mean it is unhealthy.
The root of the problem is the way ultra-processed food is categorised by the Nova classification. While sweetened drinks and cakes are UPFs, so are whole-grain cereals and supermarket breads (which contain important nutrients like fibre). Even the scientist who led the creation of Nova has acknowledged the lack of clarity between what’s good and what isn’t – which is why only 31% of Brits think UPFs can be healthy.
Nerys Astbury, a nutrition scientist and an associate professor of diet and obesity at the University of Oxford, has previously said: “The Nova system… has many limitations, including arbitrary definitions and overly broad food categories, the over-emphasis of food ingredients [as] opposed to the processing per se, and the difficult practical application of the system in accurately classifying foods.”
Modern Baker’s Superloaf, by definition, is ultra-processed. It contains a base of brown and golden linseeds, poppy seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, wheat flour and rye, and combines it with wheat gluten, acacia and guar gums, and other ingredients.
Each slice contains 4g of protein and 3g of dietary fibre, and it’s the latter that is key to gut wellness and blood glucose management. The soluble fibre in the loaf slows down glucose absorption in the small intestine and helps avoid a GI spike, while insoluble fibre removes toxins from the gut. Moreover, both types help you feel full for longer.
Superloaf is rich in calcium, copper, manganese and omega-3. Still, the nutrient-dense bread doesn’t sacrifice taste or flavour, according to the company, and is fully compatible with existing manufacturing processes.
SaaS model puts Modern Baker on course for success
To that end, Superloaf is currently produced by Hovis, as part of a three-year exclusive licensing deal signed in 2023. It’s available at M&S, Sainsbury’s and Ocado for £2.35 per 400g pack.
Its healthy UPF effort was born out of Sharp’s experience in a chemo ward, which sparked her to rethink the role of food in illness and recovery. The firm has secured seven government grants, totalling £4M, and worked with leading university labs to build out its nutrient density platform and IP.
Modern Baker’s capital-light software-as-a-service model is built for scale and has allowed manufacturers to upgrade daily staples to break them out of the unhealthy food narrative.
“Modern Baker exemplifies the kind of purposeful, IP-rich innovation we back – ambitious, disruptive, and grounded in real science. Their ability to reframe a global health challenge through food tech is as inspiring as it is investable,” said Adjuvo CEO Mark Foster-Brown.
“Our model is to work with the food industry, not against it,” said Campbell. “While others attack UPFs from the outside, we’re building the fix from within – staying lean and agile, while our partners scale globally.”
Hovis is only the first licensee, and is developing a broader pipeline of products targeting “under attack” UPF categories like biscuits, sweet bakery, breakfast cereals, ready meals and beverages.
“With global food players and public health bodies now talking to us, the Series A will accelerate our commercial rollout and deepen the scientific case. But this is bigger than one product or company,” added Campbell.
“The UK government is actively seeking progressive solutions for population health, alongside innovation-led economic growth. Nutrient density delivers both. It’s a scalable fix for the food system.”
The post Modern Baker, the Startup Behind Superloaf, Nabs $3.4M to Make Healthy UPFs appeared first on Green Queen.
This post was originally published on Green Queen.