Kern Tec

About Kern Tec

Kern Tec is an Austrian food-tech company founded in 2019 by Michael Beitl, Luca Fichtinger, Sebastian Jeschko, and Fabian Wagesreither, that specializes in upcycling previously discarded stone fruit pits into valuable ingredients for the food, beverage, and cosmetics industries. The idea originated in Austria's Wachau apricot region when a fruit grower highlighted the issue of disposing of tons of kernels, which contained a valuable inner seed. This led the founders to develop a business focused on unlocking the potential of these byproducts.

The company has developed proprietary, patented technologies to process the pits of apricots, cherries, and plums. A key part of their process involves a hydrocyanic acid reduction step, which makes the resulting ingredients safe for consumption. Kern Tec's business model revolves around a circular economy, sourcing pits from fruit processing companies and farmers, thereby providing them with a new revenue stream. It then transforms these pits into a range of products, including oils, protein powders, pastes for dairy alternatives, and flour for bakery and confectionery goods. The shells are also utilized as granules, for example, as a replacement for microplastics in cosmetics.

Kern Tec operates on a B2B basis, supplying these sustainable ingredients to clients in the food and cosmetics industries. It has also launched its own B2C brand called "Wunderkern," which includes products like plant-based milk alternatives and vegan cheese, available in retail stores. In September 2023, the company secured €12 million in a Series A funding round led by Telos Impact, with participation from the PeakBridge Growth 2 fund and the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. This funding is intended to scale up production, expand its customer base, and support its planned entry into the US market in 2025.