"I'm excited to join NoMy at an important time in the company's history, and a critical time for the society to deliver new sustainable protein solutions," said Erik Tveteraas commenting on his appointment.
Photo: Erik Tveteraas.
The mycoprotein producer Norwegian Mycelium (NoMy) announced the appointment of former Nutreco's Director of Venturing, Erik Tveteraas, as Chief Financial Officer. As part of the company's senior management team, the new CFO will be instrumental in defining NoMy's growth and financing strategy.
Tveteraas joins NoMy after five years at NuFrontiers, the strategic investment and innovation arm of Nutreco, where he arrived as Investment Director and was later promoted to Director. There, he managed Nutreco's portfolio of investments in Animal Health, Nutrition - including Sustainable Ingredients -, Precision Farming, Alternative Technology for Aquaculture, and Alternative Proteins.
The experience gained in Nutreco's corporate venture capital division will now serve him at NoMy to support and mitigate risks in the Norwegian mycoprotein producer's growth trajectory as it embarks on its next chapter of development.
With an MSc degree in International Business from the University of Edinburgh, NoMy's new CFO adds to his financial expertise by specializing in alternative ingredient sourcing with a personal interest in aquaculture and making it an even more sustainable source of protein, as he told WeAreAquaculture some time ago in his TalentView. That ties directly into Norwegian Mycelium's goal of providing high-value fish feed ingredients through an energy-efficient, safe, and scalable alternative.
NoMy is a fermentation technology company that transforms the food industry side and waste streams into circular, low-carbon ingredients using the power of fungi. Manufactured very close to where their customers are located, their ingredients compete on nutritional value and cost, while maintaining a climate footprint of only one-sixth that of soy protein concentrate, for example.
Founded in 2020 and based in Oslo, Norway, Norwegian Mycelium currently collaborates with industry players such as Skretting, and scientific entities such as SINTEF or the Norwegian Research Council to commercialize mycoprotein for feed applications.
Now, by implementing an asset-efficient scale-up strategy and a clear focus on product-market fit, NoMy plans to grow to pilot and initial commercial scale in the next 6-12 months. Erik Tveteraas will be instrumental in defining that strategy not only for growth but also for financing the mycoprotein producer.
The new CFO joins an already strong management team comprised of co-founder and CEO Ingrid Dynna, co-founder and Chief Explorer David Andrew Quist, COO Chris Snyder, and Chief Science Officer Jorge Ferreira, who collectively possess deep expertise in microbiology, fermentation, AI/ML, data science, biomanufacturing and product innovation.
"I'm delighted that Erik is joining the company at a pivotal moment," NoMy's CEO and co-founder, Ingrid Dynna, said commenting on the appointment. "As a strategic CFO, he enhances our investor readiness and strengthens our ongoing development of symbiotic industry partnerships. His extensive knowledge of the feed industry, coupled with his vast experience in investments, impactful innovations, and partnerships, makes him the ideal choice to support NoMy in our long-term go-to-market strategy."
For his part, David Andrew Quist, Chief Explorer and co-founder of NoMy, recalled that the formation of NoMy in 2019 was based on the principle of building a business that truly generates impact. "The world has a massive and growing protein deficit. Fungi and proven fermentation technologies are key solutions in solving that. We are excited that Erik will add his expertise to the team, based on his wealth of experience in the feed industry and technology-enabled investments," he added.
Meanwhile, Erik Tveteraas said he was excited to join NoMy at an important moment in the company's history and at a critical time for society to offer new sustainable protein solutions. "Having tracked raw materials markets for years and evaluated dozens of alternative ingredient sources, NoMy stood out with clear differentiating features," the new CFO said.
"The feed and farming industries need to adapt to maintain social acceptance," he continued. "In NoMy I saw a credible business model for scale, cost and product quality that can complement the traditional raw material basket; delivering both low environmental impact and 'local-for-local' supply chain resiliency that I'm confident will help meet sustainability goals across the value chains we target."
According to a recent article by the Good Food Institute Europe (GFI), based on Net Zero Insights figures, during the first six months of 2024, the fermentation sector in Europe raised more than EUR 164 million (USD 179.2 million) compared to EUR 100 million (USD 109.3 million) raised throughout 2023.
GFI Europe's article also points out that many of the fermentation companies that received large investments focus on leveraging by-products from the agricultural and food industry as a source of sustainable food, as is the case with NoMy. In other words, helping to produce food more efficiently and affordably is attractive to investors.
Finally, it also points out that lack of infrastructure is one of the main obstacles facing the fermentation sector in Europe. As the article says, building pilot plants and factories is a costly process, so it is encouraging to see start-ups focusing on building the facilities needed to bring these products to market, just like Norwegian Mycelium at the time of the arrival of its new Chief Financial Officer.