MILAN — Mycelium-based products are once again in the spotlight.
Kering Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF VC), and Progress Tech Transfer are further supporting the industrialization of mycelium-based technologies by raising 11 million euros in a Series A funding round backing Mogu Srl.
Mogu is an Italian biotech and biomaterials company that transforms low-value materials and residues from the agro-industry into functional and high-value products.
The funding will enable Mogu to further scale its industrial activities, expand its team and boost its research and development efforts to further penetrate the market, continuing to build on its environmental targets. Mogu’s product lines are the trademarked Ephea and Mogu brands with high-performance, low-environmental impact solutions. The Mogu brand addresses interior design and architecture, and Ephea is a new class of animal-free alternatives primarily dedicated to fashion and automotive.
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Mogu is the company’s legally registered name; it was established in 2015 and based in Inarzo, near Varese, about a one-hour drive from Milan. However, the company is globally known as Sqim, which will become its legally official name within few weeks following the closing date of the funding round.
“We see waste as a value, upholding transparency and not seeking sensationalist propaganda,” said Maurizio Montalti, chief mycelium officer and cofounder of Sqim, in an interview. “This is a starting point, not an arrival,” he pointed out, expressing his pride in the level of the funding partners and the confidence they have in the company. “This successful fund raise is a validation of the potential of our breakthrough technologies and next-gen materials and products.”
The company’s technology is based on mycelium, the complex network of filamentous cells constituting the vegetative stage of mushrooms. Thanks to its patented fermentation technique, the company grows high-quality raw mycelium materials by interweaving the cells of selected fungal mycelia along bespoke fermentation-based processes. It works in partnership with companies from the tanning industry, making use of innovative, environmentally sound, chrome-free methodologies.
Montalti said the funds will allow it “to further capitalize on Sqim’s proprietary technological platform, and to accelerate industrial scaling, through the deployment and launch of a new demo production plant, characterized by multiple technological processual improvements.”
He explained that the investment will allow the industrialization of Ephea, since “the pilot plants are underdeveloped, there are still a lot of manual, almost artisanal steps that could lead to human error, while now we will be able to have a demo plant that can be almost all automatic, optimizing processes and increasing volumes to expand the base of luxury clients.”
However, the end goal is to democratize the processes. “We don’t want to be exclusive, we want to arrive to all, this is our goal.” It is key to continue to keep the environmental impact to a minimum without sacrificing the level and the performance of the products, which have to be durable, he observed.
The funding will be “a catalyst to accelerate our growth further and faster, while significantly boosting our R&D efforts,” Montalti continued. “R&D is the beating heart of the company.”
The plan is to aim for “the most effective market penetration of positively disrupting materials and products in fashion, interior, automotive and many more industries, to create positive impact, while contributing to shaping a more ethically and ecologically responsible industry.”
He said there is an increasing demand for quality-driven mycelium-based products positioned in the high end of the spectrum, allowing the company to launch new commercial products and partnerships in fashion, interiors and automotive, among others.
The team comprises 30 people and Montalti said the goal with the funds is to attract new talent, doubling that number within the year.
Montalti said the company has been working with Kering for three years.
“Innovation plays an essential role within our Kering sustainability strategy. Today, we are proud to be part of this fundraising, as we strongly believe alternative materials are part of the solutions to reach our environmental goals,” said Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer at Kering. “The innovative alternative developed by Sqim can contribute to expanding our offer on high quality materials. In addition to our internal labs, Kering teams are keen on building an external ecosystem of innovators and companies so that these innovations can be adopted on a larger scale. With our new ambitious target of 40 percent reduction in absolute emissions, we need now, more than ever, innovative players like Sqim to speed up the transition towards a more sustainable industry.”