{"id":106982,"date":"2025-10-07T16:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T16:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/106982\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T16:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T16:22:08","slug":"startup-battlefield-company-aio-invented-a-method-to-make-edible-fat-from-ag-waste-like-sawdust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/106982\/","title":{"rendered":"Startup Battlefield company \u00c4IO\u00a0invented\u00a0a\u00a0method\u00a0to make\u00a0edible\u00a0fat from ag waste like sawdust"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00c4io\u00a0(pronounced EYE-oh)\u00a0is the\u00a0Estonian god of dreams.\u00a0It\u00a0seems\u00a0a sweetly\u00a0appropriate namesake\u00a0for a rising startup, called \u00c4IO,\u00a0from that\u00a0tiny\u00a0Baltic country\u00a0that has developed a process\u00a0to turn\u00a0agricultural waste like sawdust into\u00a0fats for the food and cosmetic industries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This process could be a way to reduce the world\u2019s dependency on palm oil, which has become a staple\u00a0for\u00a0food and cosmetics\u00a0for its emulsifying and preservative properties. Unfortunately, because\u00a0of that\u00a0plant\u2019s\u00a0need\u00a0for\u00a0hot humid climates, this massive\u00a0industry\u00a0has also notoriously\u00a0destroyed\u00a0rain forests and other sensitive ecosystems\u00a0to make way\u00a0for\u00a0farms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00c4IO<\/a>\u00a0was co-founded by\u00a0biotechnology scientists\u00a0Nemailla\u00a0Bonturi\u00a0and Petri-Jaan\u00a0Lahtvee\u00a0based on\u00a0Bonturi\u2019s\u00a0doctoral research.\u00a0During her studies she invented a new\u00a0microbe,\u00a0a\u00a0strain of\u00a0yeast.\u00a0Instead of consuming sugar\u00a0and outputting\u00a0carbon dioxide gas or\u00a0alcohol as with\u00a0bread and beer, this yeast\u00a0consumes\u00a0sugar and\u00a0outputs fat\u00a0molecules.\u00a0The company will show off its tech as part of Startup Battlefield<\/a> at this year\u2019s TechCrunch Disrupt<\/a>, which runs later this month in San Francisco. <\/p>\n

Lahtvee\u00a0was a professor of Food Tech and Bioengineering at Estonia\u2019s Tallinn University of Technology\u00a0and, in 2016,\u00a0running his\u00a0own biotech\u00a0lab\u00a0there\u00a0with\u00a0Bonturi\u00a0his\u00a0first\u00a0hire.\u00a0She brought her microbe with\u00a0her,\u00a0and they worked on the molecule, altering it to be hardy enough to be manufactured.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Estonia\u00a0has a\u00a0large\u00a0agriculture base of\u00a0corn\u00a0and other food grains, as well as\u00a0sugarcane and\u00a0lumber, the lab studied\u00a0how\u00a0sugars produced from those\u00a0ag\u00a0waste streams\u00a0could\u00a0feed this microbe.\u00a0\u201cWe started working on it, developing metabolic engineering tools,\u201d\u00a0Lahtvee\u00a0told TechCrunch.\u00a0The answer:\u00a0It could consume those sugars quite well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The molecule\u2019s\u00a0\u201cfat profile is very similar to existing fats,\u201d\u00a0Lahtvee\u00a0says, and, in its solid-fat form,\u00a0probably\u00a0\u201cmost closely resembles chicken fat.\u201d\u00a0But\u00a0it is\u00a0also\u00a0possible to\u00a0modify\u00a0the fermentation process to produce a liquid\u00a0oil\u00a0as well that could make it\u00a0a\u00a0good\u00a0alternative\u00a0to manufactured oils like canola\/rapeseed oil.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2022,\u00a0the\u00a0founders\u00a0knew they had a commercially\u00a0viable\u00a0solution and launched \u00c4IO with the hope of raising venture money and\u00a0establishing\u00a0commercial partnerships to bring it\u00a0to\u00a0market.\u00a0They\u2019ve\u00a0raised about $7 million so far and, since founding, have\u00a0created methods for developing precision fermentation products,\u00a0won the 2024 Baltic Sustainability Award, and signed over 100 companies worldwide interested in collaboration, the startup says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very extensive analysis\u00a0after we\u00a0make our product and,\u00a0so far, what we have seen is that our final product is to the same level\u00a0as vegetable oils, except for the pesticides\u00a0\u2014\u00a0even\u00a0more pure,\u201d\u00a0Bonturi\u00a0told TechCrunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next up, the\u00a0company plans to\u00a0build\u00a0a facility to produce\u00a0the fat\u00a0in\u00a0commercial quantities by 2027, as well as license the\u00a0technology\u00a0to other cosmetic and food manufacturers.\u00a0It also\u00a0must\u00a0obtain licenses to sell the fats as food, country by country,\u00a0most likely starting\u00a0with Singapore, which\u00a0has a history of being\u00a0more\u00a0open<\/a>\u00a0to alternative food production products.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a novel type of way of producing food, and we\u00a0have to\u00a0go through all the permits and analysis,\u201d\u00a0Bonturi\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As such plans progress,\u00a0Bonturi\u00a0said that she hopes to show how \u201ctwo scientists in this small country could actually do something better for the world, but that\u2019s just my personal dream.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you want to learn more about \u00c4IO from the company itself \u2014 while also checking out dozens of others, hearing their pitches, and listening to guest speakers on four\u00a0different stages\u00a0\u2014 join us at Disrupt, October 27 to 29, in San Francisco.\u00a0Learn more here.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TechCrunch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00c4io\u00a0(pronounced EYE-oh)\u00a0is the\u00a0Estonian god of dreams.\u00a0It\u00a0seems\u00a0a sweetly\u00a0appropriate namesake\u00a0for a rising startup, called \u00c4IO,\u00a0from that\u00a0tiny\u00a0Baltic country\u00a0that has developed a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[67039,18,67040,19,17,20750,9510,9511,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-106982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-aio","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-foodtech","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-startup-battlefield","14":"tag-techcrunch-disrupt","15":"tag-techcrunch-disrupt-2025","16":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}