Lyras

What Lyras does

Lyras is a Danish manufacturing company founded in 2017 and headquartered in Aalborg, Denmark, with a wholly owned North American subsidiary (Lyras North America Inc.) in Chicago. It designs and sells industrial liquid-processing equipment built around its patented "Raslysation" technology — a non-thermal method that passes liquids through controlled turbulent flow past UV light sources to inactivate microorganisms, positioned as a replacement for conventional thermal pasteurization and microfiltration. The core technical differentiator is the ability to treat opaque liquids such as milk, whey, and cheese brine (historically difficult for UV due to glass-food contact concerns), achieved via air-cooled lamps separated from the product flow, while preserving proteins, vitamins, and taste. Claimed operating outcomes include 60–90% energy savings and 60–80% water savings versus pasteurization.

The company monetizes through capital equipment sales of four skid-mounted system models — Raslysation Sirius (full-scale milk processing and in-line testing), Spica (cheese brine and whey), Castor (whey treatment and brine purification), and Polaris (juice and other liquids) — complemented by professional services (installation, commissioning, training, field service) and mobile test-unit feasibility studies. Systems are also offered on a rental basis as temporary production-line enhancements. Pricing is customized and undisclosed, sold via direct enterprise field sales with regional representatives, a trade-show-heavy demand-generation motion, and select regional channel/implementation partners (e.g., Sycamore Process Engineering in the UK, High-Tech Processing in South Africa).

Lyras primarily serves the dairy industry (cheese producers, whey processors, raw-milk cheese makers) with additional verticals in juice/beverage, industrial fermentation, blood plasma, and an emerging pharmaceutical focus. Named customers span Europe, North America, South America, and Africa, including Novozymes (enzyme production), SM Mazowsze and SM Ryki (Poland), Altmark-Käserei Uelzena (Germany), Novelle Kaas (Netherlands), ADL (Canada), Mjólkursamsalan (Iceland), and Signal Hill Products (South Africa). The company completed a strategic realignment in H2 2024, transitioning from a technology-development phase to an operations- and growth-focused business, and is led by founder Rasmus Mortensen and CEO Mark Kalhøj Andersen.

Name

Lyras

Legal name

Lyras A/S

Website

https://lyras.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Lyras is a Danish manufacturer of patented "Raslysation" non-thermal UV liquid-processing equipment that replaces conventional pasteurization and microfiltration, serving dairy, juice, industrial fermentation, blood plasma, and emerging pharmaceutical processors globally with energy- and water-saving systems sold to enterprise food and beverage manufacturers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Aalborg

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Raslysation Equipment Sales: Sale of Raslysation systems (Sirius, Spica, Castor, Polaris) to industrial food and beverage manufacturers. Equipment includes full-scale processing units with feed units, PLC controls, and electrical cabinets mounted on skid frames for easy transport and implementation. Systems can be rented as temporary enhancements for production lines.
2. System Installation and Commissioning: Installation, commissioning, and handover services at customer sites including documentation, testing, and training. Field service and maintenance support.
3. Mobile Test Unit Services: Product testing services using mobile test units according to agreed criteria for feasibility studies and ROI analysis.
4. Pharmaceutical Market Expansion: Lyras is expanding into pharmaceutical industry with technology adaptation to meet pharma sector standards for contamination control.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Lyras designs, manufactures, and services the Raslysation™ line of industrial UV-based, non-thermal liquid processing equipment that inactivates microorganisms in milk, whey, cheese brine, juice, cider, fermentation media, and blood plasma. Four product models — Sirius, Spica, Castor, and Polaris — are delivered as skid-mounted systems with PLC and electrical cabinets, accompanied by installation, commissioning, training, mobile feasibility testing, and rental options for industrial food, beverage, biotech, and pharmaceutical processors.

Product overview

Lyras offers the Raslysation brand of non-thermal liquid processing technology, a patented UV-based system that replaces traditional pasteurization and microfiltration. The product portfolio comprises four named systems: Raslysation Sirius (full-scale milk processing and testing), Raslysation Spica (cheese brine purification), Raslysation Castor (whey treatment and brine applications), and Raslysation Polaris (juice and other liquid processing). These modular systems share the core UV light technology that saves 60–90% energy and 60–80% water compared to conventional heat treatment, and are marketed across dairy, juice, industrial fermentation, blood plasma, and other liquid processing industries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Raslysation™: Patented non-thermal liquid processing technology that uses UV light to inactivate microorganisms, replacing conventional pasteurization and microfiltration
• Raslysation™ Sirius
• Raslysation™ Spica
• Raslysation™ Castor
• Raslysation™ Polaris

Products and services

• Raslysation™ Sirius Full-scale Raslysation UV-based non-thermal liquid processing system with feed unit, PLC, and electrical cabinet on a single skid frame; capable of processing around 3,400 liters of milk per hour and available for rent as a temporary in-line production line enhancement or feasibility trial. Targets industrial dairy processors.
• Raslysation™ Spica Raslysation system designed for cheese brine purification and dairy processing, replacing microfiltration with UV-based microbial control to reduce energy, water, and chemical consumption; available in capacities including 25 m³/hour for yellow cheese brine treatment.
• Raslysation™ Castor Raslysation system optimized for whey treatment and brine purification, with 25 m³/hour capacity; deployed at dairy processors including Altmark-Käserei Uelzena (Germany), SM Ryki (Poland), and ADL (Canada) for Havarti/Feta and other cheese production.
• Raslysation™ Polaris Member of the Raslysation product lineup used for specific liquid processing applications including juice and other beverage processing.

Quantifiable outcome

• 60-90% energy savings compared to traditional pasteurization
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• University College of Northern Denmark (UCN)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAccess to students for project collaborations and internships. Information sharing benefits Lyras with new ideas and outlooks on problem solving.
• Aalborg University (AAU)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides students for internships and project collaborations. Opportunity to collaborate with Ph.d. students researching technology affecting Lyras' R&D approach.
• Erhvervshus NordjyllandminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGrowth program providing startup companies with tools and sparring. Lyras benefited from development dialogues and sparring. Also connected to Innovativ Vækst program.
• Food & Bio ClusterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNationwide cluster organization helping Lyras strengthen knowledge-based innovation and competitiveness through assistance obtaining funding for employee upskilling.
• Supporting Entrepreneurship at Aalborg University (SEA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided knowledge sharing, sparring, and guidance for starting up company. Also provided workspace during startup phase.
• NoviminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided sparring and knowledge sharing benefiting Lyras in startup process.
• Wageningen University & ResearchminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHelped Lyras run tests for customers at their Pilot plant facility.
• DTU (Technical University of Denmark)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch and testing collaboration. DTU student previously wrote GUPD project on Lyras. Close collaboration in GUDP UV Safe Milk project for scientific validation.
• NGS (Nordic Green Solutions)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThird-party validation of Lyras' calculation tool for energy and water savings.
• UPCYFUN Project ConsortiumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with ProteinFrontiers, DTU Fødevareinstituttet, Aalborg Universitet, Vestjyllands Andel, Danish Technological Institute DMRI, HNH-Consult, and Pixinno. Project aims to transform global food system through sustainable protein production.
• Sycamore Process EngineeringminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUK partner presenting raslysation at Sustainable Food Factory events and supporting implementation in UK market.
• High-Tech ProcessingminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSouth Africa partner utilizing industry knowledge to support implementation of raslysation for Signal Hill Products cider production.
• GUDP UV Safe Milk Project PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGUDP (Green Development and Demonstration Programme) project completed in collaboration with IN-Water ApS, DTU Food, Them Andelsmejeri, Novelle Kaas, and Lyras, with support from Landbrug & Fødevarer. Validated raslysation as replacement for heat treatment of milk.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Marel: Global food processing equipment supplier with growing dairy and protein verticals; comparable as a multi-vertical industrial equipment platform expanding into adjacent food segments.
• JBT Corporation: Diversified food and beverage processing technology provider with strong sterilization, pasteurization, and protein processing lines — relevant comparison for protein-processing expansion (Lactoferrin, Whey).
• Alfa Laval: Global leader in heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling for dairy and food; its pasteurization and membrane filtration product lines compete head-on with Raslysation's value proposition.
• SPX FLOW: Supplier of pumps, valves, heat exchangers, and processing technology to dairy, beverage, and food industries — overlaps with Lyras's installed-equipment replacement and new-line opportunities.
• GEA Group: Diversified food processing equipment supplier with strong separators, homogenizers, and pasteurization lines for dairy and beverage — directly competes for the same industrial capex budgets Lyras targets.
• Krones: Major beverage processing and packaging equipment supplier, particularly relevant given Lyras's Polaris system and Signal Hill cider deployment in the beverage vertical.

Emerging players

• Pulsemaster: Dutch provider of pulsed electric field systems for non-thermal pasteurization of liquids — competing emerging alternative technology with similar sustainability and energy-saving narrative in Europe.
• Elea Technology: German provider of pulsed electric field (PEF) systems for non-thermal food and beverage processing — a direct alternative non-thermal technology competing for the same dairy and juice customers.

Direct peers

• Tetra Pak: Global leader in dairy and food processing equipment, including thermal pasteurization systems that Raslysation directly displaces. Most directly comparable competitor for capex sales into dairy processors.

Others

• HRS Heat Exchangers: Specialist in heat exchangers and thermal processing for dairy, beverage and food — relevant as an adjacent technology supplier whose products are being displaced by Raslysation in brine and whey applications.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lyras
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lyras