Millow raises €2M to bring mycelium-oat protein to Nordic foodservice — patent clears opposition

Millow (Gothenburg) has closed a €2 million / $2.3 million funding round. The round was led by Magnus Emilson — serial entrepreneur, founder of hospitality tech group Visit Group and co-founder of ESS Group — with Jan Enhager, co-founder of Vitamin Well Group (the group behind NOCCO and Barebells), joining as both investor and strategic adviser to CEO Fredrik Öhrn. Two unnamed co-founders of Swedish technology companies with combined exits exceeding €1.7 billion and strategic private investors from the Swedish food sector also participated. Millow is additionally supported by the EU's EIC Accelerator. Stage was not stated in the announcement; no stage label is asserted here.

The capital funds two things: expansion of Millow's production facility at a former LEGO manufacturing hall in Stenkullen near Gothenburg to three proprietary fermentation units — representing combined capacity of roughly 430+ tons per year by the end of 2026 — and the build-out of a commercial team to serve the Nordic foodservice market.

What Millow makes and how

Millow produces protein through solid-state fermentation: mycelium grown directly on Swedish oats and psyllium, a dry process that runs in 16 to 24 hours and generates output that is already food — no binders, no additives, no downstream processing required beyond forming into the appropriate shape. The result is a protein ingredient with 14% protein (scalable to 20%) and 7.6% dietary fibre, a complete amino acid profile, and a carbon footprint independently verified by RISE at 0.32 kg CO₂e per kilogram — approximately 98% lower than Swedish beef, using 3 to 4 litres of water per kilogram of product.

The production technology is rooted in 25+ years of mycelium and fermentation research by Prof. Mohammad J. (Esmaeil) Taherzadeh, Millow's Chief Scientific Officer, who left his position at the University of Borås to join the company full-time in March 2026 alongside the appointment of Öhrn as CEO. The process is protected by European patent EP 4 307 913, covering the low-water production method; the European Patent Office confirmed in August that the nine-month opposition period closed without any challenges filed — a meaningful IP milestone ahead of commercial launch.

The investor logic

The capital's most informative element is not its size but its composition. Magnus Emilson and Jan Enhager are not generic angel investors arriving at an early-stage FoodTech company because the sector is hot. Emilson built businesses in hospitality and technology, investing in Millow as early as 2025 and increasing his stake with this round. Enhager co-founded the Vitamin Well Group, which turned NOCCO and Barebells from Swedish niche products into mainstream distribution brands across Europe. "With Vitamin Well we saw how fast a better product can move from niche to mainstream once the taste and the format are right," said Enhager. "Foodservice protein is at that point now."

The company's near-term commercial targets are foodservice operators and distributors in the Nordics, where scope-3 emissions requirements and clean-label demand are translating into active purchasing conversations. The production facility at Stenkullen — already equipped for three fermentation units, with the building supporting three additional ones for future expansion without a new facility — provides the physical base for that commercial launch.