Revyve raises €24 million to scale egg-replacing yeast proteins

Revyve, the Dutch food-tech scale-up turning yeast into high-performance egg replacements, has closed a €24 million (US$25.6 million) Series B financing round. The raise, announced in September, brings the company’s total funding to more than €40 million (US$43 million) and marks a turning point in its ambition to become a global supplier of sustainable, cost-competitive, clean-label ingredients.

The round was co-led by ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund and Invest-NL, with support from Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), strategic investors Lallemand Bio-Ingredients’ Swiss affiliate Danstar Ferment and Grey Silo Ventures, and renewed commitments from Oost NL and Royal Cosun. The diverse syndicate reflects growing confidence in both Revyve’s proprietary technology and the broader demand for alternatives to animal-derived ingredients.

A first-of-a-kind facility

At the heart of Revyve’s strategy is its first-of-a-kind commercial facility in Dinteloord, the Netherlands. Commissioned in 2024, the site has already been validated at industrial scale and is supplying customers across multiple categories. With the fresh injection of capital, CEO Cedric Verstraeten says the company will expand output well beyond its initial 1,600 tons per year capacity.

“We will use this €24 million Series B to further scale up our first-of-a-kind facility in Dinteloord, broaden our product portfolio, and accelerate customer collaborations,” Verstraeten said. “This funding ensures we can meet commercial demand at global scale while reaching positive unit economics. Raising a round in today’s tough environment was a challenge, but our pitch resonated: the world needs scalable, functional, and sustainable alternatives to eggs. Investors recognized both the impact potential and the commercial case for a cost-competitive solution already in-market.”

Unlike many start-ups, Revyve is already generating revenue, with partnerships and distribution agreements helping accelerate global expansion. “It’s already happening,” Verstraeten said. “We’ve established and continue to build a growing network of international partnerships and distribution agreements that are accelerating our global expansion and driving strong revenue growth.”

Modular, CapEx-light approach

One advantage is the scalability of the process itself. Revyve’s production relies on off-the-shelf food industry equipment, making it modular and relatively light on capital expenditure. “Beyond our first facility, this allows us to rapidly set up new production locations close to or co-located with feedstock providers,” Verstraeten explained.

The company’s roadmap focuses on mainstream adoption. “As we are already producing consistently at industrial scale, our main target is commercial expansion and revenue growth,” Verstraeten said. “We are now entering mainstream categories like bakery, where our ingredients can provide cost benefits to our customers. Beyond that we are always working to broaden our product portfolio by innovating further with yeast proteins and beyond.”

Why yeast proteins?

The egg replacement market is crowded, but Revyve argues its yeast proteins stand apart. “Using fermented ingredients allows for a much more neutral taste profile than working with plant proteins, which means our proteins work well in both sweet and savoury applications,” Verstraeten said. “Additionally, they are allergen-free, a must for many segments of the industry.”

Equally important is functionality. Eggs are prized in food manufacturing for their versatility, from aeration to emulsification and gelling. Replicating that is no small feat. “Eggs are multifunctional and hard to replicate,” Verstraeten said. “Our yeast proteins mimic aeration, emulsification, and gelling without requiring complex blends or additives and enable full or partial replacement of eggs. Industrial scale replacements of course need small formulation and process adjustments. Over the past years our applications teams have worked relentlessly to overcome these challenges and we can now provide our customers with an exceptional level of service during both the product development and industrial launch phase.”

The ability to replace eggs outright – rather than only partially – gives Revyve a competitive edge. “Our proteins have similar functionality to egg proteins and are very functional,” Verstraeten said. “This allows us to reach high replacement percentages or even full replacement, where most existing industrial solutions are only used for low partial replacement.”

Clean-label advantage

As food brands come under pressure to move away from ultra-processed formulations, Revyve’s clean-label proposition is increasingly compelling. “There is currently increasing pushback on ultra-processed foods, especially in the plant-based categories,” Verstraeten said. “Our yeast proteins are a proven solution to deliver great texture without the need for additives. We offer solutions to replace methyl cellulose but also other types of hydrocolloids and chemical emulsifiers. We have done extensive consumer research which shows that consumers have good associations with yeast protein and accept this on food labels.”

Demand drivers

While egg price volatility is the most obvious driver, Verstraeten highlights three converging forces behind Revyve’s momentum: unstable supply chains, scrutiny of additives, and pressure to cut carbon footprints. “Food manufacturers are facing volatile egg prices and an instable supply, making planning and costing difficult and even constrain production. At the same time, brands face pressure to simplify labels and cut additives, while retailers and manufacturers are pursuing CO₂ reduction targets. These three forces – price volatility, clean-label scrutiny, and decarbonization – are driving urgent demand for high-performance egg alternatives, like ours.”

Applications are already broad, spanning bakery, sauces, snacks, frozen foods, meat, and dairy alternatives. “Amidst all, we see the global sweet bakery segment as the biggest opportunity,” Verstraeten said.

Global expansion and regulation

Revyve’s current focus is on Europe and North America, with Asia-Pacific also on the horizon. “In the EU, our process is not novel,” Verstraeten noted. “In the USA, our GRAS status has been confirmed by expert consensus. This makes adoption by food manufacturers straightforward and low risk.”

While plant-based companies were early adopters, Verstraeten sees mainstream food manufacturers as the larger prize. “We had some early successes in plant-based products, where the push for clean label and better texture is very high,” he said. “However, our commercial focus is on conventional foods, where cost, clean label, and credible sustainability are now also baseline expectations. With our facility up and running, we can guarantee industrial-level supply to even the largest bakery groups.”

Balancing investor priorities

The make-up of the Series B syndicate reflects a balance of institutional and strategic investors. “In our view, both are equally valuable and needed,” Verstraeten said. “Strategic investors bring much-needed market insight, R&D expertise or distribution capacity while institutional investors help steer the company in the right direction by drawing from a wealth of experience from other portfolio companies, helping to prevent common pitfalls and promoting best practices where possible. In both cases, it’s crucial to have investors that are familiar with the food industry and its unique differences versus other venture segments.”

BOM has described its mission as making Brabant the 'Scale-Up Plant of Europe', and Verstraeten sees Revyve as a proof point. “Growing a successful scale-up requires a different environment and ecosystem support than that of early stage start-ups,” he said. “By successfully building and starting up our facility in Brabant we make a great case study of what is possible with the right regional support. We have a great network and working relationships with our peer scale-ups in the region and learn a lot from each other's experiences.”

Positioning within the protein transition

Revyve’s technology sits between biomass and precision fermentation, according to Verstraeten. “We broadly fit within the fermented ingredients bucket. This bucket is typically divided into two main categories: biomass fermentation, which focuses on bulk ingredients, and precision fermentation, which focuses on expensive functional ingredients. Revyve’s unique approach sits in between these – we use simple processing technology to produce functional ingredients from largely available biomass. This allows us to produce ingredients with great functionality at a price point which is competitive at current scale and have no regulatory constraints.”

By anchoring its proposition in egg replacement, Revyve has carved out a clear route to mainstream adoption. “By focusing on bringing solutions to egg replacement, a key need of the industry, we have a winning solution that works for mainstream adoption,” Verstraeten said.

Looking ahead

In five years, Verstraeten envisions Revyve operating multiple production sites worldwide and broadening beyond yeast. “In five years, we see Revyve operating multiple production sites across key global regions, delivering clean-label functionality at scale,” he said. “While yeast will remain at our core, we’ll have expanded our portfolio to include other microbial sources, unlocking new functionalities and applications – solidifying Revyve as a leading force in the future of sustainable, functional ingredients.”

Asked what advice he would give to other founders, Verstraeten emphasized practicality over hype. “Start with the end in mind – understand your customer’s product, process, and pricing constraints from day one. In today’s market, it’s not enough to be novel or sustainable; you have to be cost-competitive. Nice technology and marketing stories may open doors initially, but scalable impact requires solutions that can win on performance and price.”

With fresh funding, a validated production base, and growing global demand for egg alternatives, Revyve is entering its next phase with confidence. “This funding round marks a tipping point for us,” Verstraeten said. “We can now modularly scale production, branch out to more food categories, and serve our sustainable solutions to larger customers worldwide.”

(All photos courtesy of Peter de Klerk, Must and Stum)