French precision fermentation company Standing Ovation has announced a €30 million Series B financing round, including €25 million in equity, led jointly by the Ecotechnologies 2 fund — managed on behalf of the French government by Bpifrance as part of the France 2030 initiative — and Crédit Mutuel Innovation.
The round includes its existing investors Astanor, Bel Group, Seventure Partners, GoodStartUp, and Big Idea Ventures, as well as new investors Danone Ventures, Angelor, Newtree, and Noshaq.
This investment is supplemented by $5.7 million (€5 million) in non-dilutive financing provided by Bpifrance and a leading banking syndicate.
Standing Ovation is redefining dairy protein production with a patented process that turns whey permeates into high-value caseins, a premium ingredient in critical demand across the global agrifood industry. The ability to repurpose dairy co-products, which are currently of little to no value, is a major milestone that reshapes the future of the ecosystem.
A world-first, patented technology
Standing Ovation upcycles agricultural sugars and milk whey — previously diverted to fertiliser or biogas — into high-quality casein, the cornerstone of dairy. The company Standing Ovation has shielded its technology with eight patent families.
Critically, Standing Ovation repurposes local circular resources, effectively reducing the industry’s dependence on international supply chains. This issue is all the more critical given that France’s self-sufficiency in milk could be at risk as early as 2027.
Further, Standing Ovation’s process drastically reduces the strain on global resources (a 74 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and up to three times less water use than animal casein, according to an ISO-certified life cycle assessment).
Standing Ovation turns dairy side-streams into profitable new markets for producers, and offers the food industry a reliable, high-performance solution to the rising global demand for dairy and protein-rich products. Furthermore, this new resource has the advantage of contributing to the necessary decarbonisation of their processing operations.
According to Yvan Chardonnens, CEO, and Romain Chayot, co-founder and Managing Director of Standing Ovation:
“Our patented technology is becoming the focal point for an industry-wide shift toward sustainable, high-performance proteins. Our ambition is to pioneer a new, circular, and sustainable approach to protein production to meet rapidly growing global demand.
By combining technological innovation with the dairy industry’s expertise, we are bridging the gap between the agri-food industry and deep tech. Backed by strong technological barriers to entry, we are accelerating our rollout and helping to strengthen European food sovereignty.”
This new funding will finance the commercial rollout of Standing Ovation’s proteins in the United States and, starting at the end of 2027, in Europe and Asia.
Lead image: Standing Ovation. Photo:Antoine Repesse.