Spora

What Spora does

Spora is a privately held food research and development centre headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark (Spora ApS, CVR 44348454), founded by Rasmus Munk in 2023 as a formalised extension of his restaurant Alchemist. The company runs gastronomy-led, multidisciplinary R&D focused on two principal programmes: upcycling of side-streams from Food & Beverage industries (most visibly through NOTCH, a chocolate alternative produced from spent grain via drying, roasting, conching, tempering and moulding without cacao or cacao butter) and the development of diverse, sustainable protein sources (including Neurospora intermedia fermentation inspired by Indonesian oncom, ant yogurt validated with Balkan partners, rapeseed press cake protein research with the University of Copenhagen, CO2-derived protein via the Acetate to Food consortium, and cultivated seafood work with Wildtype Foods). Spora additionally pursues experimental work spanning bioluminescent gastronomy and a miniaturised fermentation chamber with samples flown to the ISS for 30-day space waste experiments.

Its business model is collaborative R&D rather than product sales: Spora operates a purpose-built facility comprising a research kitchen, microbiology lab, and design and sound studio, and delivers value through co-creation with industry partners (e.g., Wildtype Foods), academic research collaborations (University of Copenhagen, DTU, UC Berkeley, LMU Munich), and participation in the multi-funder Acetate to Food consortium backed by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company employs 11-50 staff organised across culinary, scientific, design, communications, and business development functions, and serves global customers and partners despite its single Copenhagen location, with documented activity spanning Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia. No commercial pricing, direct-to-consumer distribution, or disclosed revenue exists in the source material; Spora's outputs are delivered through project partnerships, consortium deliverables, and peer-reviewed scientific publications rather than through traditional sales channels.

Name

Spora

Legal name

Spora ApS

Website

https://spora.dk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Spora is a Copenhagen-based food R&D centre founded in 2023 by Rasmus Munk, running gastronomy-led multidisciplinary research on food side-stream upcycling (e.g., NOTCH chocolate alternative from spent grain) and sustainable protein development for industry partners, academic collaborators, and philanthropic-funded consortia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Food Research and Development Services

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYAFAJAKAE

Probiotics (Strains, Spore-Formers, Synbiotic Components)

Agriculture & Food Production/Food Ingredients & Additives/Nutraceutical & Functional Ingredients (Vitamins, Minerals, Omega-3s, Botanicals)

Keywords

• Food research development
• Gastronomy-led innovation
• Side-stream upcycling
• Sustainable protein development
• Fermentation research

Headquarters

HQ city

Copenhagen

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Spora is a global food research center that drives and collaborates in R&D programs addressing critical food system challenges through gastronomy-led, multidisciplinary innovation. Its work focuses on upcycling of side-streams from Food & Beverage industries and the development of delicious and diverse protein sources, delivered via co-creation partnerships with industry and academia from a state-of-the-art facility in Copenhagen.

Product overview

Spora is a global food research center offering gastronomy-led innovation services rather than a single product. The core offering consists of collaborative R&D programs in two main areas: upcycling of side-streams from Food & Beverage industries and development of diverse protein sources. Key specific products include NOTCH (a chocolate alternative made from spent grain), and multiple active research projects including oncom-inspired fermentation using Neurospora intermedia, the Acetate to Food consortium converting CO2 into protein, rapeseed protein development, and a culinary partnership with Wildtype Foods for cultivated seafood. Spora operates from a state-of-the-art facility in Copenhagen featuring a research kitchen, microbiology lab, and design studio.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• NOTCH: Spora's chocolate alternative created from spent grain, a by-product of beer brewing. It is created using the same treatment as cocoa beans in traditional chocolate production - dried, roasted, and conched together with other ingredients before being tempered and molded. The product is without cacao or cacao butter but full of flavor, based on industry side-streams and deforestation-free plant fats, vanilla, muscovado sugar and coffee.

Products and services

• NOTCH Chocolate Alternative An indulgent chocolate alternative created from spent grain (a by-product of beer brewing), treated like cocoa beans in traditional chocolate production - dried, roasted, conched, tempered and molded. Contains no cacao or cacao butter, using instead deforestation-free plant fats, vanilla, muscovado sugar and coffee. Developed in response to climate change pressure on cacao sourcing and labor scrutiny in the industry.
• Oncom-Inspired Fermentation Research Research project using Neurospora intermedia fungus fermentation techniques inspired by traditional Indonesian oncom to unlock sugars, amino acids and new flavors in food industry side-streams, transforming starch-rich waste into tasty and nutritious food sources. Includes a research collaboration with UC Berkeley producing a dessert by inoculating rice porridge with the technique at Alchemist.
• Rapeseed Protein Research Multidisciplinary project exploring how to create delicious foods from rapeseed press cake - a protein-rich by-product currently used only as animal feed that could sustain 140 million adults yearly if unlocked for human consumption. The "From feed to food" project gathers pre-breeders, sensory evaluation experts, anthropologists from Copenhagen University and culinary researchers from Spora to reduce bitterness in seeds and make rapeseed press cake palatable.
• Wildtype Foods Culinary Development Partnership Culinary development partnership in which Spora serves as culinary development partner for Wildtype Foods, a San Francisco-based pioneer in cultivated seafood production. Spora contributes gastronomic expertise to help develop and refine cultivated seafood products.

Quantifiable outcome

• Rapeseed press cake protein could sustain 140 million adults yearly if unlocked for human consumption
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Wildtype FoodscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpora serves as culinary development partner for San Francisco-based Wildtype Foods, a leading pioneer in cultivated seafood production. Spora contributes gastronomic expertise to help develop and refine cultivated seafood products.
• University of CopenhagencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research partner collaborating on multiple projects including rapeseed protein research and sensory evaluation. Anthropologists from Copenhagen University are part of the multidisciplinary team exploring how to make rapeseed press cake palatable for human consumption.
• Technical University of Denmark (DTU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research partner collaborating with Spora on scientific validation of fermentation methods including ant yogurt fermentation research.
• UC BerkeleycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research collaborator on Neurospora intermedia fermentation project. Research collaboration resulted in dessert development using the fungus to inoculate rice porridge.
• Ludwig Maximilian University MunichcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research partner contributing to ant yogurt fermentation validation research, including Bulgarian anthropologist Sevgi Mutlu Sirakova from this institution.
• Acetate to Food ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal consortium funded by Novo Nordisk Foundation and Gates Foundation working to turn CO₂ into protein-rich foods. Spora's role is to transform lab-produced proteins into nutritious and delicious foods adapted to local flavors and cultures worldwide.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• dsm-firmenich: Global food ingredients and nutrition major created via the DSM-firmenich merger. Operates broad R&D across fermentation, alternative proteins, and food innovation that overlaps with Spora's portfolio but at vastly larger scale and with established global customers.
• Cargill: One of the world's largest privately held food and agriculture companies, with significant R&D spend across alternative proteins, fermentation, and food innovation. Could be a partner, acquirer, or competitor depending on Spora's commercial trajectory.
• Novonesis (formerly Novozymes): Denmark-headquartered bioscience leader in enzymes and microbial fermentation. Bioinnovation platform overlaps directly with Spora's fermentation research focus; comparable because both anchor major parts of their work in microbial transformation for food applications.

Others

• Wageningen University & Research: Premier Netherlands-based food and agricultural research institution. Conducts similar multidisciplinary food science research at scale (plant proteins, fermentation, food tech) and is a natural academic partner/competitor for talent and consortia, especially relevant given EU scope of Spora's rapeseed work.
• VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland: Finland-based applied research organization with significant food and cellular agriculture research. Comparable as a European food R&D center pursuing cellular and fermentation-based food futures, though larger and more diversified than Spora.

Direct peers

• Noma: Two-Michelin-star Copenhagen restaurant and food innovation brand that pioneered the gastronomy-meets-science model Spora now extends into a dedicated research center. Both are Copenhagen-based and share cultural DNA around fermentation, foraging-driven R&D, and university partnerships.
• Alchemist: Copenhagen restaurant also founded by Rasmus Munk, opened in 2019. Spora is explicitly described as the natural evolution of the Alchemist universe, making it the most direct conceptual precedent and peer — gastronomy-led, multidisciplinary, partnership-driven.

Emerging players

• Wildtype Foods: San Francisco-based cultivated seafood pioneer and Spora's named culinary development partner. Represents the customer relationship that anchors Spora's cultivated-protein exposure and serves as a reference customer for expanding into adjacent alt-protein partnerships.
• The Good Food Institute (GFI): Global nonprofit research institute advancing alternative proteins. Operates in an adjacent space with a similar nonprofit-tinged R&D positioning, comparable mission to transform food systems, and parallel focus on fermentation and cultivated protein enablers.
• Solar Foods: Finnish food-tech startup producing Solein protein from CO2, hydrogen, and electricity. Direct technology parallel to the Acetate to Food consortium work Spora leads, making it the closest emerging player peer in the same novel-protein category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/spora-copenhagen
• Instagraminstagram.com/sporacph

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Spora