#6 Reducing our dependency on soy imports with Finnish fungi and measuring sustainability impact ft. Enifer

In this episode, the bioCircular Loop podcast discusses fungi-based alternative proteins and the use of innovative raw material sources to soy. The guest, Simo Ellilä, CEO and co-founder of Enifer, a biotech startup in Finland, shares insights on their process of fermenting side streams to produce sustainable protein ingredients. The conversation covers the benefits of plant-based proteins, the environmental and ethical concerns of animal agriculture, and the challenges of soy dependency in Europe. They also discuss Enifer’s journey of scaling production, their target markets, and the advantages of their mycoproteins compared to soy or meat-based proteins. Enifer is a company that produces sustainable and high-quality protein ingredients from fungi. They have faced challenges in fundraising due to the adverse funding climate and the need to demonstrate a shorter-term vision for generating revenue. They have a strong intellectual property portfolio and valuable know-how from the old process. Building new markets and convincing B2B clients to change their recipes are ongoing challenges. Sustainability is important but not always a top priority for consumers and companies. Enifer compares favorably to soy-based alternatives in terms of carbon emissions and land use. Measuring impact is complex, but Enifer uses economic allocation to account for the environmental emissions of their side streams. Enifer’s protein can offer up to 70% CO2 emission savings compared to Brazilian soy.