In this instalment of ‘Start-up spotlight’ – which celebrates the lesser-known companies and their innovations – we speak to Lars Langhout, CEO of NoPalm Ingredients, a Dutch biotechnology company that is on a mission to produce palm oil without palm trees, through its unique fermentation process.

Can you tell us the founding story of NoPalm Ingredients? What inspired you to tackle the palm oil challenge?     

The idea for NoPalm Ingredients unfolded when I read a paper by Jeroen Hugenholtz, which explored the potential of turning microbial oils into mayonnaise. At the time, Jeroen was working as a researcher at Wageningen Research, determined to find sustainable alternatives for palm oil.

His research sparked my interest in addressing supply chain challenges that have negatively impacted our environment. Based on a shared vision, I reached out to Jeroen. After just two meetings, we both recognised their responsibility to bring this groundbreaking innovation to the market, aiming to transform the oil and fat industry into a more sustainable one.  

What is the core mission of NoPalm Ingredient, and how does it align with your personal and professional values?   

We are on a mission to become the global leader of a green parallel oil and fat industry by setting and achieving sustainability goals that not only drive our business forward but also inspire the wider industry and communities. Taking ownership and acknowledging challenges is something we value in this process, viewing every experience as a learning opportunity.   

By turning agri-food side streams into circular yeast oils, we can make a worldwide environmental impact, aiming for a waste-free world, decarbonising the entire value chain and preserving biodiversity hotspots from future deforestation. We believe that changing one ingredient can change the world.   

Myself and Jeroen's commitment extend beyond business success. Lars is dedicated to creating a better world for future generations and Jeroen takes this opportunity to turn his research into a concrete solution that benefits the world, ensuring that NoPalm Ingredients makes a meaningful environmental impact.   

Could you explain the unique fermentation process and patented technology you use to produce your sustainable yeast oils?   

We use a simple biomass fermentation process like a brewery, starting by converting industrial by-products like potato peels and rejected vegetables into a fermentable substrate. Then we add our own proprietary yeast that consumes sugars, organic acids and alcohols in the substrate.

After a quick fermentation period, the yeast grows and accumulates oil within their cell bodies. Finally, we extract pure oils and fats from the yeast cells, leaving behind the defatted biomass. These final products can be tailored to different functionalities based on production settings, making them suitable for various applications in food, cosmetics and pet food products.   

How do your yeast oils compare environmentally to traditional palm oil, particularly in terms of CO2 emissions and land use reduction?     

Palm oil is used in about 60% of fast-moving consumer goods. Keeping up with the rising demand for oil would require clearing rainforests approximately 1.5 times the size of Ireland. New regulations will also force European companies to source sustainably certified palm oil, excluding 83% of current supplies and thereby driving up prices for every family.   

We feel responsible for developing key innovations that stimulate a more sustainable way of producing oils and fats. Together with the Bühler group, we performed a life cycle assessment of our process and technology to ensure the highest sustainability standards.   

By using side streams that were used in other production processes and therefore hold little value, we bring back almost the entire of the feedstock back into the value chain, allowing us to minimise our footprint. Another huge plus about using side streams is that we need almost no land to produce our ingredients, only a small place to build our factories on.

This way we deliver 90% lower carbon emissions and use 99% less land than traditional palm oil.  Also, by reintegrating the remaining biomass into the value chain, ensuring a zero-waste process and maximising resource efficiency.  

With palm oil found in 60% of supermarket products, what strategies are you employing to capture a significant share of this market?   

Our strategy to capture market share focuses on offering a sustainable, reliable, and stable alternative to palm oil. Unlike palm oil, our oils are produced locally and circularly, ensuring consistent and reliable supply and pricing. Our product is a perfect drop-in replacement, requiring no reformulation, while delivering 90% less CO2 emissions and 99% less land use, addressing the 41% of consumers with a negative perception of palm oil.  

We focus on food, cosmetics and personal care – sectors heavily impacted by regulations like the EUDR – offering companies an easy path to compliance. Through partnerships with industry leaders like Lamb-Weston EMEA and Zeelandia, we’re scaling quickly to meet growing demand for sustainable solutions.  

How do you plan to use the recent €5 million seed funding to accelerate the scale-up and commercialisation of NoPalm Ingredients?    

We leverage it to accelerate scaling up our technology by partnering up with third party manufacturers, enabling us to provide our partners with industrial-scale samples for testing on their own production lines. This approach helps demonstrate product-market fit to unlock the financing and construction of our demo factory, capable of producing thousands of tons of oil.   

How did your partnerships with industry giants like Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever come about, and what role have they played in your development?  

Our partnerships with Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever came through the 100+ Accelerator programme, which provided a platform to showcase our ingredient performance in real-world products and applications, such as soaps and bouillon powder.

These collaborations have been instrumental in demonstrating the effectiveness of our solutions in real-life settings, giving us tangible milestones and proving the commercial viability of our products. Their support has been key in building credibility, reliability and trust, accelerating our path to product-market fit and helping us establish a strong foundation in the industry.  

What have been the biggest challenges in developing and scaling NoPalm Ingredients, and how have you managed to overcome them?     

Our biggest challenge has been scaling up our production to meet the growing demand for our oil. Scaling takes significant time, resources, and effort, but we are actively addressing this by taking a crucial step: scaling up our process and technology at an industrial level with a third-party manufacturing partner. This will allow us to demonstrate our solution on a larger scale and meet customer needs more effectively. While we’re excited by the strong customer traction, we haven’t always been able to supply the desired volumes yet.  

We have ambitious goals to transform the oil and fat industry and create a meaningful environmental impact, and we recognise that achieving this takes time and persistence. Despite the challenges, our team remains dedicated and optimistic about our future, embracing each step forward as an opportunity for growth.  

What advice would you offer to other start-ups aiming to enter the sustainable ingredients or biotechnology sectors?      

Our advice is to prioritise being business-oriented over mission-driven alone. We've seen many mission-focused startups struggle because they concentrate on niche solutions or fail to address a real market need. Innovation is important, but your product must solve a clear problem and be commercially viable.

Often, the answer isn’t to prohibit a product but to step back and create a superior alternative that naturally compels a switch. This mindset has been central to our journey at NoPalm Ingredients –developing a sustainable alternative to palm oil that not only addresses environmental challenges but also solves supply and price issues for businesses. 

To succeed, focus on solving tangible, real-world problems with scalable solutions. It’s vital to navigate the complexities of scaling production, securing partnerships, and meeting regulatory requirements. Your product must deliver on both sustainability and performance to ensure companies will adopt it.

Additionally, stay committed to your mission, but be flexible in how you achieve it. Real impact requires both a clear vision and the adaptability to meet market demands and challenges. 

What are your short-term and long-term goals for NoPalm Ingredients, and where do you see the company in the next five years?     

In the short term, our primary goal is to go to market with commercially relevant quantities by 2026, producing more than a thousand tons of our sustainable oil alternative. This will allow us to meet growing customer demand and establish a strong presence in the industry.  

In the long term, we aim to lead the development of a parallel green oil and fat industry. Our ambition is to have food industry sidestreams all across the globe processed into oils and fats, contributing to a more circular economy with a smaller environmental footprint. We see NoPalm Ingredients as a transformative force, driving real impact both environmentally and across the entire industry.  

How has being part of the Foodvalley ecosystem and the broader Dutch and European start-up community influenced your journey and growth?   

Being part of the Foodvalley ecosystem and the broader Dutch and European start-up community has been transformative for our journey. This dynamic network has connected us with incredible partners – suppliers, customers, investors, government entities and mentors – who have not only supported our development but have truly championed our vision. Their expertise, collaboration and commitment have been instrumental in accelerating our progress and bringing our solutions to life.

These partnerships have also allowed us to take part in impactful initiatives that drive the transition of the entire food system, reinforcing the idea that we are stronger when we work together. 

Accelerators like MassChallenge, 100+ Accelerator, HelloTomorrow and Techleap have also been game-changing. These programmes have provided us with access to exceptional external expertise, helping us make leaps we couldn’t have achieved on our own. Their mentorship, combined with the tools and connections they offer, has been invaluable in pushing our innovation forward and expanding our reach. 

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