Danish Fermentation Startup Reduced Bags $4.7M to Turn Food Waste Into Savoury Flavours

Copenhagen-based Reduced, which upcycles food processing waste into savoury flavour enhancers, has raised €4M ($4.7M) to expand production to industrial levels.

Danish startup Reduced has closed a Series A funding round to bring its waste-derived umami flavours to food manufacturers across the world.

The firm’s €4M ($4.7M) investment was co-led by Delphinus Venture Capital, with participation from existing investors Novo Holdings, ECBF, and Danish state fund EIFO. It takes its total raised to €12M ($14.2M) to date.

Reduced uses fermentation to turn food processing sidestreams into clean-label alternatives to flavour enhancers, such as hydrolysed vegetable protein and meat or yeast extracts.

It will use the new capital to scale up its production capacity, expand its portfolio, and deepen global partnerships amid its transition from tech development to industrial supply.

Delivering umami, kokumi and Maillard reaction notes via fermentation

Founded in 2016 by Emil Munck de Voss and William Anton Lauf Olsen, Reduced combines solid-state fermentation with controlled reaction processes to convert underutilised food industry byproducts into high-value savoury flavours.

The Waste to Taste technology leverages rice koji fermentation and can produce flavours in just three days, using 10 times less energy and generating up to 83% lower greenhouse gases compared to current methods.

Reduced produces a broad spectrum of additive-free flavour compounds, including sought-after notes like umami, kokumi (characterised by mouthfeel, thickness, and a sense of lingering), and the Maillard reaction. Its current lineup includes mushroom, vegetable, shore crab and chicken concentrates.

Currently, manufacturers and foodservice operators rely on hydrolysed proteins and flavour extracts to add these flavours, which can lack the “complexity, depth and top notes” required for customer-relevant applications, and raise concerns about overprocessing amid Europe’s clean-label push.

The savoury flavour market may be worth $9B, but its production practices can be highly obscure. Existing industry conventions and regulations mean even seemingly benign ingredients like yeast extract are produced in a highly processed manner that belies the term ‘clean label’.

Reduced’s fermentation process can deliver the roasted character, depth, and sensory complexity of premium savoury flavours, and by valorising sidestreams, it also contributes to the circular economy.

“Industrial food ingredient production must become both more sustainable and more resilient. Reduced’s scalable fermentation platform demonstrates how circular bio-based technologies can deliver competitive, high-performance solutions to global food manufacturers,” said Jowita Sewerska, investment director at ECBF.

Reduced looks to industrialise Waste to Taste tech

Reduced addresses a major climate change contributor – food waste accounts for up to a tenth of global emissions, while also causing $1T in annual economic losses. To date, the startup has saved over 150 tonnes of food. As it grows its consumer base, the firm aims to drive more carbon savings for the food industry.

The new round of funding will help with that, allowing the startup to strengthen its quality and supply chain systems and scale up production to meet growing demand from multinational customers.

Over the last year, Reduced has already doubled its industrial partnerships and expanded its product lineup across multiple applications. “2026 will be focused on continuing the industrialisation of our core technology, and this investment enables us to accelerate that journey,” said de Voss, the CEO.

“We are seeing strong momentum with industry and food service partners across Europe, and our ambition is to deepen these collaborations. Being well capitalised, with strong backing from both new and existing investors, is an important step in achieving this,” he added.

Thomas Grotkjær, partner at Novo Holdings’s Planetary Health Investments division, said: “Reduced has built a compelling enzyme- and fermentation-based platform for producing high-value, natural savoury ingredients. This financing will help strengthen quality systems, scale production, and accelerate progress with key industrial partners.”

Reduced is among a number of food tech startups using fermentation to transform the flavour industry. Last year alone, France’s Fungu’it raised $4.6M to upcycle agricultural byproducts into natural flavours for the food industry via fungi fermentation, and another Danish firm, Summ Ingredients, secured $2M to bring its FermiPro protein (made from fermented fava beans and oats) to market.

“We see a robust technological foundation, strong market need, and a highly capable team at Reduced,” said Sara Færch Hansen, senior associate at EIFO. “Their approach shows how innovative Danish food tech can deliver both sustainability and high-value industrial ingredients.”