Series B extension

The Protein Brewery has raised an €18 million, or $20.5 million, Series B extension, according to AgFunderNews. AgFunderNews reported on June 29, 2026, that incoming investor ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund led the financing, with existing investors Invest-NL, Novo Holdings, Madeli and the Brabant Development Agency participating. Although the supplied programme record categorizes the award as a grant and does not name a funder, AgFunderNews describes the transaction as an investor-led Series B extension.

The Dutch startup makes mycoprotein from Rhizomucor pusillus mycelium through biomass fermentation, according to AgFunderNews. The publication said the financing will support expansion of the company’s Dutch production facility to more than 2,000 tons, European sales from the third quarter, new clinical studies and regulatory applications in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India. CEO Thijs Bosch told AgFunderNews that the company anticipates supplying 600 metric tons of Fermotein from its Breda demonstration-scale factory in 2027, with capacity exceeding 2,000 tons by 2029.

The financing comes as The Protein Brewery addresses a US regulatory setback, AgFunderNews reported. According to the publication, the company self-affirmed its ingredient as Generally Recognized as Safe in March 2024 and submitted a GRAS notice to the US Food and Drug Administration in March 2025. A March 2026 FDA letter said the notice had deficiencies involving animal-study design, safety data at proposed exposure levels, assessment of compositional elements with antinutrient properties, bioinformatics approaches and organism-specific secondary-metabolite characterization. The FDA said it recommended ending its evaluation because of the information needed, and AgFunderNews reported that the company withdrew the notice in February 2026.

Bosch told AgFunderNews that The Protein Brewery plans to update its submission using data associated with its European Food Safety Authority process and does not expect to repeat studies. According to AgFunderNews, the company had already secured authorization to market its novel mycelium ingredient in the European Union. Bosch told the publication that a pre-submission FDA meeting was planned in the coming weeks, with a resubmission intended afterward and a no-further-questions letter expected in the first quarter of 2027. He also told AgFunderNews that the first US products were expected in late 2026 while the company updates its self-GRAS documentation.

The round is directly relevant to cell agriculture because it directs capital toward fermentation-based food biomanufacturing and the scale-up of an alternative protein ingredient. AgFunderNews reported that Fermotein is a mycelium powder rich in protein, fiber and micronutrients, with customer interest in active and sports nutrition across the European Union, Singapore and the United States. For the wider precision-fermentation and sustainable-protein sectors, the financing provides a documented example of capital supporting production capacity, clinical evidence and regulatory work, although The Protein Brewery’s process is specifically biomass fermentation rather than production of a purified target molecule.

CONCLUSION

The $20.5 million Series B extension gives The Protein Brewery capital to expand manufacturing, pursue additional market authorizations and support commercialization, according to AgFunderNews. The reported FDA refiling also shows that funding for sustainable protein scale-up must cover regulatory evidence and market access alongside fermentation capacity.