€1m · Other round · Cleantech · Wageningen, Netherlands
Greencovery, a Wageningen company that recovers functional ingredients from food-industry side streams, has raised €1m in funding from ROM InWest, existing shareholder Brightlands Venture Partners and a private investor. The company says it will use the capital to scale its cocoa upcycling technology with an industrial partner towards 1,000 tonnes of annual capacity. The process turns cocoa side streams into cocoa fibre, cocoa extract and soluble cocoa fibre for food manufacturers.
Greencovery is separately raising a €3m tranche for full commercial manufacturing. That planned financing is not included in this round's €1m amount.
Industrial location shapes the economics of upcycling
Greencovery needs a steady supply of cocoa side streams and nearby processing capacity, not just laboratory performance. North Holland combines both: the region processes large volumes of cocoa and already has industrial food infrastructure. Locating production close to that raw material can reduce transport and handling costs while giving processors a higher-value outlet for material that might otherwise be burned or downcycled.
The commercial test is whether the recovered ingredients perform consistently at scale and compete on total cost with conventional alternatives. Reaching 1,000 tonnes would move Greencovery beyond pilot batches, but the company is also seeking a separate €3m tranche for full-scale manufacturing. That makes customer qualification and dependable output important evidence before the larger build-out.
