Danish food colorants startup raises €6 million

In Denmark, a company developing fermentation-based vegan food colorants has raised €6 million (US$7.14 million) in a seed funding round, bringing its total funding to date to €10 million. 

Chromologics was spun out of the Technical University of Denmark four years ago. The company aims to supplant animal-based food colorants as well as plant-based sources, which are often expensive. 

Participants in Chromologics seed round include Blue Horizon Ventures, Nordics-focused life sciences investor Novo Seeds, and early-stage food tech VC Nordic Food Tech. Angel investor Giampaolo Cagnin also joined the round. The company has previously received funding from Vækstfonden, as well as grants from Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Innovation Foundation Denmark. 

“I believe that Chromologics has the potential to drive a significant change in how we think about natural colors,” says Thomas Grotkjær, principal at Novo Seeds. 

The global food colorants market is worth roughly $2 billion.