When it comes to natural food colors, the industry has long faced a tough trade-off: plant-based pigments are environmentally costly and fragile, while synthetic colors raise health concerns. Enter Michroma, a biotech startup turning fungi into powerful biofactories that could redefine the future of natural ingredients.

Introducing Michroma and Its Fungal Innovation

Michroma is a biotechnology company pioneering fungal biofactories to produce the next generation of natural food colors. We engineer filamentous fungi to create high-performance, sustainable ingredients that replace artificial colorants widely used today.

Our first product, Red+, is a fungi-derived natural color with superior stability compared to other natural reds—heat-stable and pH-stable—making it uniquely compatible with real food industry needs. By combining bioinformatics, synthetic biology, precision fermentation, and scalable downstream processes, Michroma is building one of the world’s first platforms for fungi-made food ingredients that are healthier, more sustainable, and scalable for global brands. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and Rosario, Argentina, where the technology was born.

What real-world environmental problem are you determined to solve through your innovation?

The food industry still relies heavily on petrochemical synthetic colorants or resource-intensive agricultural pigments. Synthetic colors carry health concerns, while plant-based options depend on large amounts of land, water, and pesticides—making them environmentally costly and supply-chain fragile.

By using fungi to produce stable, natural ingredients, Michroma aims to:

Eliminate dependency on petroleum-derived colors
Drastically reduce agricultural resource use
Cut emissions tied to pigment extraction and farming
Build minimal-footprint production powered by biology

Our goal is to contribute to a more sustainable food system by replacing harmful or resource-heavy ingredients with fungal, nature-made solutions.

What inspired you to start working with fungi?

Fungi are extraordinary organisms—nature’s original bioengineers. Their metabolic diversity, efficiency, and resilience make them uniquely powerful for producing complex molecules at scale.

When we discovered the remarkable stability and versatility of fungal pigments, it became clear that fungi could solve some of the biggest limitations of natural colors and unlock a cleaner alternative to synthetics. Personally, I was inspired by the opportunity to build a company at the intersection of health, sustainability, and industrial impact, leveraging fungi to redesign how ingredients are made.

What has been your most defining breakthrough or turning point so far?

Our defining breakthrough was achieving unmatched stability performance in Red+. Natural red pigments typically degrade under heat or acidic conditions—but Red+ stays vibrant across challenging applications where other natural options fail.

This proved that fungal pigments can outperform existing natural solutions and genuinely replace synthetic colors in mainstream food products. Another major turning point has been validation from global food companies testing Red+ across applications. Winning The Future is Fungi Award was also a key milestone, strengthening global visibility for our work.

What are your next big steps and where do you see Michroma in five years?

In the coming years, we will:

Scale our fungal biofactory platform to commercial industrial levels
Launch additional fungi-derived natural colors
Develop fungi-made flavors as our next product line
Expand our global footprint
Deepen partnerships with leading food and beverage companies

In five years, we aim for Michroma to be the global reference for fungi-derived, high-performance natural ingredients—replacing synthetic and agricultural inputs with sustainable solutions produced by biology.

What kind of support would help accelerate your innovation?

The support that moves us fastest includes:

Partnerships with global food companies for application testing
Access to industrial-scale fermentation capacity
Investors aligned with long-term deep-tech commercialization
Ecosystem visibility and media support to educate markets about fungi-based ingredients

The Future is Fungi network is incredibly aligned with these needs.

What challenges lie ahead?

Like most precision fermentation food companies, our main challenges involve scaling biomanufacturing globally and navigating multi-market regulatory approvals. Collaborations with fermentation partners, regulatory experts, ingredient distributors, and application labs will help accelerate commercialization and market entry.

What’s your ultimate vision for the role of fungi in the future of biotech?

Fungi will become one of the pillars of the bio-based industrial revolution. They allow us to produce ingredients with far lower environmental impact and with greater functional performance than many plant or chemical alternatives. I envision a future where many ingredients used in food, agriculture, materials, and beyond are produced through fungal biofactories, enabling cleaner, safer, and more sustainable supply chains. Fungi will help shift industry from extraction to biofabrication.

What does winning The Future is Fungi Award mean to your team?

Winning the award is a profound honor because it is the only global award dedicated exclusively to fungal innovation. For us, this recognition validates our scientific approach, our focus on fungi-derived ingredients, and our mission: replacing artificial ingredients with high-performance natural solutions.

It also highlights a meaningful part of our identity—Michroma was born in Argentina, and this award shines a light on the incredible scientific talent originating there. The award provides visibility, credibility, and momentum as we scale Red+ and expand our product pipeline.

What would you say to future applicants considering applying?

If you’re working on fungi-driven solutions that can create real planetary or societal impact—apply. This award is far more than recognition; it provides a global network of partners, mentors, investors, and innovators who genuinely understand the transformative potential of fungi. Be bold, stay true to your mission, and trust that fungi can take you further than you imagine.

Harnessing Fungi to Color the Future of Food