NoPalm Ingredients
NoPalm Ingredients is a Dutch biotechnology company founded in 2021 in Wageningen. It develops fermentation-based oils and fats from upcycled agri-food side streams, using a proprietary non-GMO yeast process to create sustainable alternatives to palm oil and other tropical fats. The company serves food, cosmetics, and personal care manufacturers that need functional ingredients with strong performance, traceability, and a lower environmental footprint. It positions itself as a scalable, local, and circular alternative to land-based oil production, with a model designed to reduce dependence on agricultural land, deforestation risk, and long supply chains. Core Values Impact : The company emphasizes measurable environmental benefit, aiming to reduce land use, emissions, and pressure on biodiversity through circular ingredient production. Ownership : NoPalm Ingredients highlights urgency, accountability, and entrepreneurial action in how it develops and scales its technology. Care : It stresses respect for people, inclusion, and team well-being as part of building resilient innovation. Trust : Transparency, reliability, and doing the right thing are presented as the basis for long-term partnerships and supply security. Continuous learning : The company frames experimentation, feedback, and data-driven improvement as essential to scaling its technology responsibly. Unique Aspects Industrial-scale fermentation milestone : NoPalm Ingredients says it became the first company worldwide to scale yeast-based oil fermentation from food-industry side streams to 120,000 liters, showing industrial feasibility rather than only lab or pilot promise. Demonstration factory with NIZO : The company is building its first demonstration factory at NIZO’s Food Innovation Campus in Ede, moving from pilot to commercial-scale production under one roof and improving speed, cost, and process control. Strategic partnership with Milcobel : A 2025 partnership with Milcobel secures whey permeate feedstock for the demo factory and includes a feasibility study for a future co-located commercial site at Milcobel’s Langemark location. Commercial validation with major brands : The company has run pilot and development work with Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, Zeelandia, Loki Foods, and Those Vegan Cowboys, supporting credibility across food and personal care use cases. Recognition and funding : NoPalm Ingredients closed a €5 million seed round in 2024 and was named a 2026 Food Planet Prize finalist, signaling external validation of both its technology and scale-up potential.