Perfat Techologies closes €1 million seed round led by Nordic Science Investments

Perfat Technologies, the Helsinki, Finland-based food deep technology company, has announced the successful closure of its €1 million seed funding round, led by Nordic Science Investments and supported by Helsinki University Funds and other existing investors. This financial boost is set to accelerate Perfat’s innovative R&D and significantly bolster the industrial scaling of its technology to produce healthy and functional fats for the food industry.

By pioneering a cutting-edge solution to replace or diminish the reliance on unhealthy saturated fats, Perfat stands at the forefront of combating diet-related health issues. Its innovative technology enables broader use of healthy vegetable oils, such as rapeseed or sunflower oil, previously limited in food production by their lack of techno-functionalities. This breakthrough offers a healthier and more sustainable alternative to traditional solid fats such as butter, palm oil and coconut oil, promising to enhance the nutritional and sensory qualities of food products. Moreover, it aims to contribute broadly to improving public health outcomes, including the reduction of various chronic conditions.

Perfat’s solution overcomes the trade-off between health and applicability by using material physics principles applied to food science to give healthy oils the functionality of saturated fats. The company has created the first gelled healthy vegetable oil with an engineered dietary fiber-reinforced microstructure to produce a solid, highly functional fat for the food industry. Its solution enables food products to retain their familiar taste and texture profiles, while significantly improving their health profile.

"We are very glad to partner with Nordic Science Investments to scale up our operations," commented Jyrki Lee-Korhonen, CEO, Perfat Technologies. "We have received phenomenal interest from leading European and global food producers demonstrating that there is a clear market need for our fat solutions. This investment will not only enable us to add further resources to our R&D operations but will also help Perfat in moving from lab scale towards industrial scale."

"Perfat is opening a new frontier in healthy and sustainable food, building on its groundbreaking technology and team comprised of seasoned experts with a shared passion for revolutionizing the food industry," added Matti Hautsalo, Founding Partner at Nordic Science Investments. "Nordic Science Investments is proud to embark on this journey with Perfat, which fits perfectly to our newly launched fund’s mission to impact daily lives meaningfully via transformative science."