Tempty Foods tops crowdfunding target as mycelium investor interest grows

Tempty Foods passed its Republic Europe crowdfunding target with 26 days still left in the campaign, raising €356,538 from 107 investors against a €355,036 goal. The Danish mycelium company then lifted its funding ceiling to admit more backers, a small but meaningful sign that investor curiosity around fermentation-based foods has not vanished, even as capital remains selective across alternative protein.

The speed of the response sharpened the signal. Tempty said the campaign reached 85% of target in the first 24 hours of the private phase, which suggests that the strongest pull in this category may now come from investors who already know the playbook: clean-label positioning, a sustainability case, and a product story that is not trying to impersonate meat. Republic Europe frames that pitch as building a new category of foods with mycelium, rather than chasing “perfect meat imitations,” and that distinction appears to be doing real work with retail backers.

The crowdfunding milestone also lands better because Tempty is not presenting itself as a concept-stage bet. Republic Europe says the company has posted 100% annual revenue growth since 2023, served more than 250,000 meals, and built partnerships with 7-Eleven and Coop. Those details matter in a tough funding environment because they point to commercial traction, not just a novel ingredient deck. In mycelium and broader alt-protein, that combination of revenue growth, distribution partners, and visible throughput has become one of the few narratives still strong enough to carry a raise.

Tempty was founded in 2021 and is based in Copenhagen, with Martina Lokajová as co-founder and chief executive. Profiles of Lokajová describe her as a Czech-born entrepreneur who moved to Denmark in 2015, and say Tempty became the first Danish company to launch mycoprotein-based products in 2023 through a partnership with UK-based Marlow Ingredients. The company also won Startup of the Year at DTU in 2022, adding an innovation credential that helps explain why it can still find an audience beyond specialist foodtech funds.

The Republic Europe campaign follows a separate 5.2 million DKK seed round in March 2026, backed by existing investors, DanBAN, Angella Invest and an EIFO MatchLoan, with money aimed at Nordic expansion starting with Sweden. Taken together, the seed round, the retail crowdfunding traction and the operating metrics point to the same conclusion: for mycelium companies, investor appetite is still there, but only when the story is tied to revenue, partners and a believable path from fermentation tank to shelf.