Fungus could be the future of food tech.
In addition to serving as an actual food product, mushrooms have long been used to package food and products (click here to watch a Dell exec eat mushroom-based packaging).
A Denver startup is proving that mushrooms can act as a spice too. On Thursday, MycoTechnology announced that it raised $39 million in Series D funding to develop mushrooms that taste sweet as sugar, as salty as, well, salt, and as luscious as butter. By replacing salt, fat and sugar with mushrooms, the company believes its products could help people embrace healthier eating habits.
“We create products that solve the biggest challenges in the food industry, like creating great tasting products without excessive sugar, salt or fat and doing so in a more sustainable way,” CEO Alan Hahn said in a statement.
The 92-person company plans to spend the fresh cash on developing its products. It specializes in making products from mycelium, which is the root structure of mushrooms.
MycoTechnology’s first product, ClearTaste, can help block bitter taste in items like coffee, which, if used correctly, would technically mean execs no longer need to add sugar to smooth out their caffeine intake. The company’s PureTaste Protein product also acts as a plant-based protein.
The company was founded in 2013, and the Series D round brings total investment in MycoTechnology to $120 million. Greenleaf Foods, SPC, S2G Ventures and Evolution Partners led the round.
