Edonia, a Paris-based microalgae startup, has closed a €15 million ($16.8 million) funding round to build industrial-scale production of Edo, a soft brown mince made from just spirulina and oil, Green Queen's Anay Mridul reports. The round was led by Swen Blue Ocean 2, Asterion Ventures and EIT Food, an EU-backed accelerator, with non-dilutive funding from the state bank Bpifrance under France 2030 and bank loans.
Spirulina, a cyanobacterium long sold as a supplement, has had limited use in food because of its taste, colour and texture. Edonia, founded in 2023 by Hugo Valentin, Pierre Mignon and Nicolas Irlinger, uses a patented process it calls Edonization: the spirulina is cooked in oil at a precise temperature, which changes its colour, taste and texture into a fluffy grain with an umami flavour and without the usual algae off-notes. The company says it uses no additives, fermentation, extrusion or enzymes, and developed the method with AgroParisTech's research lab.
According to the company, Edo contains 27 g of protein per 100 g with all essential amino acids, a PDCAAS score of 0.97 and 20 mg of iron per 100 g, and has a footprint of 1.95 kg of CO2e, which it puts at 27 times lower than beef and 2.5 times lower than soy mince for the same protein. These are Edonia's own figures.
The new money will fund a plant at an existing site owned by canned tuna producer Maison Chancerelle in Brittany, due to open within a year, and an expansion of sales to food businesses in Europe, the US and Japan. Edonia says it already has €30 million in pre-orders from 20 industry players. Catering group Newrest has served the ingredient in thousands of meals a month in France since 2025, and nutrition company Aliive uses it in two ready meals of its Dietbon weight-management scheme.
Edonia began industrialising in 2024 after a €2 million round that paid for a pilot plant in Agen. "We've proven that a whole-food protein can outperform the animal on nutrition and compete on price, at real volume, with real clients," said chief executive Hugo Valentin. "This funding gives us the resources to turn our promise into verified proof."
Photo: Music4thekids / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Green Queen
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