Overview
High-value functional proteins and specialty enzymes made by precision fermentation, not extraction: premium actives for cosmetics and nutrition today, and a licensable continuous-production platform for manufacturers tomorrow.
Round A
€5.5M
2026 · Round B €15M · Round C €30M
Break-even
2029
EBITDA turns positive
Revenue 2032
88% GM€119M
base case · ~143% CAGR
Team 2032
45 FTE
from 12 in 2026
Revenue by engine
€M · product + bioreactor + other · 2026–2032
Cap table
post Round A · illustrative
- Founders49.8%
- Existing investors14.5%
- Angels / pre-seed9.6%
- Round A investors19.6%
- ESOP6.4%
Ownership split is indicative and pending confirmation, not from the financial model.
Roadmap & milestones
seed → Round A → scale
- 2023–24Strain library established · IP filed
Expression strains built and validated for the first target proteins. Continuous-production and downstream-purification families filed via PCT (patent-pending, not granted). Strain library held as trade secret rather than published.
- 2025500 L pilot running continuously
Continuous operation validated at 500 L: months of steady-state running rather than discrete campaigns, with purity held to specification across the run. Funded alongside grant and milestone revenue.
- 2026Round A €5.5M · first commercial revenue
Funds the 2,000 L line, the strain library and the commercial team. First revenue from cosmetic-grade actives, the beachhead with the shortest qualification cycle.
- 2027First platform licence · food-grade certification
2,000 L line commissioned and the first process licence signed, opening the second engine. Food-grade certification obtained for the first product, unlocking food-processing accounts.
- 2028Platform overtakes product · Round B €15M
Licensing and systems revenue passes direct product revenue and becomes the dominant engine. €15M Round B funds the 5,000 L scale and the first multi-site licensees. EBITDA reaches the edge of breakeven.
- 2029EBITDA and net profit positive
The platform engine carries the business through breakeven on both EBITDA and net profit, four years after the Round A close, with roughly 18 active customers.
- 2030Round C €30M · multi-site rollout
€30M Round C funds the industrial network and the licensee build-out, against a business already generating cash.
- 2031–32~€119M revenue at scale
Roughly €119M total revenue by 2032, the large majority from the licensed platform, with the direct product line continuing as the proof case and the strain pipeline behind it.
Why NOVAKERN
Continuous process, not batch
A continuous fermentation and purification line that runs for months at steady state rather than in discrete campaigns: materially higher throughput per litre of installed capacity and far lower capital per kilogram than batch production.
Proprietary strain library
An expression-strain library tuned per target protein, held as trade secret rather than published. Yield per litre improves with every campaign, and that run history is the part a competitor cannot copy from a patent.
Patent-pending process families
Continuous-production and downstream-purification families filed via PCT. Patent-pending, not yet granted. The filings cover the process; the strain library stays a trade secret.
Cosmetics-first go-to-market
Cosmetic-grade actives reach revenue on a shorter qualification cycle than food applications, giving a fast, high-margin beachhead while food-enzyme dossiers work through the longer EU authorisation route in parallel.