Kern Tec, founded in 2019 in Austria, uses patented processing technologies to crack stone fruit pits and extract apricot, cherry and plum kernels into oils, protein powders and milk. Its core products target plant-based dairy and confectionery markets, and the company retails an apricot kernel milk under the Wunderkern brand at €2.66 per liter in Austrian supermarkets. Kern Tec positions its apricot kernel ingredient as nutritionally and organoleptically similar to almond but allergy-free and requiring far less water to produce; regulators note kernels are historically consumed in Europe when processed or cooked. The company reports it has processed so far over 2,5000 tonnes of pits (equivalent to 40,000 tonnes of stone fruit) and expects an annual processing capacity of about 20,000 tonnes of fruit pits, equivalent to roughly 150 million liters of plant-based milk. Management says it has signed purchase orders worth millions of dollars in revenues over coming years and will use new funding to upscale production and commercialisation. Kern Tec practices a zero-waste approach by repurposing residual biomass for landscaping and soil uses, and plans expansion into Switzerland, Poland, Italy and Germany.

Total raised

$13M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Sep 2023