Cirkulär secures €226,000 to expand fungal biorefinery and unlock new high-value ingredients from forest waste

Cirkulär has been awarded €226,000 (US$245,000) by the Swedish research council FORMAS to advance its work turning forest-based industry side streams into a suite of high-value ingredients. The funding follows the company’s launch of Mycomeal earlier this autumn, which made Cirkulär the first business globally to commercialize mycoprotein for aquaculture.

Working in partnership with the University of Borås and Kitcoat, the Lund-based startup will use the new funding to explore how its filamentous fungal process can yield additional products beyond its existing aquafeed ingredient. The aim is to move toward a fully integrated fungal biorefinery, where a single bioprocess generates several commercially viable outputs.

CEO & Founder Eric Öste said the project represented a strategic expansion of the company’s long-term vision. “This project will demonstrate how much value can be unlocked simply by making better use of existing side streams. Until now, our focus has mainly been on the protein component for fish feed, but we will now evaluate other valuable compounds and identify where they offer the strongest impact. This is not just R&D, it’s a strategic move toward long-term growth and a more circular bioeconomy,” he said.

The work will evaluate four additional product streams that can be produced from the same fungal biomass:

Cirkulär’s existing product, Mycomeal, is a whole-mycelium protein ingredient for aquafeed, designed to reduce dependence on imported soy and fishmeal. Under the new project, the company will assess the feasibility of producing protein isolates for broader food and feed applications; chitin-glucan complexes as natural dietary fibers for food, beverages and cosmetics; fungal chitosan for use in biodegradable packaging, wound-care materials and water treatment; and beta-glucans as immune-supporting ingredients for animal nutrition and functional foods.

The company said fungal chitosan, in particular, offers environmental benefits compared with crustacean-derived chitosan, which remains the industry standard. All four streams build on the same circular logic already established in the production of Mycomeal: converting low-value industrial byproducts into ingredients with strong functionality and sustainability advantages.

The project builds on previous work funded by VINNOVA and supports Cirkulär’s transition from a single-product company to a diversified ingredients supplier with greater market resilience. Initial trials will be carried out at Cirkulär’s demonstration facility, where small batches of each candidate ingredient will be produced for performance testing and early market evaluation.

Cirkulär develops sustainable, fungi-based ingredients from industrial side streams and launched Mycomeal in October 2025 as a new protein source for aquaculture. By upgrading low-value byproducts into functional materials, the company aims to contribute to a more circular and resource-efficient bio-based industry.