Clean Food Group Secures £4.5M Investment to Accelerate Sustainable Oil Production
Clean Food Group (CFG), a UK-based biotech company specialising in sustainable oils and fats produced through fermentation, has secured £4.5 million in new investment led by Clean Growth Fund and New Agrarian. The funding is further strengthened by a £700,000 non-dilutive grant from Innovate UK, enhancing the company’s financial position.
The announcement comes shortly after Clean Food Group acquisition of a one million-litre fermentation facility in Knowsley, Liverpool, in September 2025. The newly raised capital will support the scale-up of this facility, expand production capacity, and accelerate the commercial rollout of its high-performance, sustainable oil and fat products.
With the Knowsley site now under its control, CFG is positioned as the world’s largest producer of yeast-derived oils and fats. This milestone enables the company to respond to increasing global demand for sustainable and locally sourced alternatives to traditional agricultural and tropical oils. The sustainable food market, valued at $315 billion in 2024, is projected to reach $524 billion by 2032, reflecting strong growth potential.
CFG’s proprietary fermentation technology allows the production of high-performance oils and fats at commercial scale, offering both sustainability and functionality. These innovations are designed to support industries including food, cosmetics, and pet nutrition in transitioning to more resilient and environmentally responsible ingredient systems.
The company continues to receive backing from existing investors such as SEED Innovations and Döhler Group, a global leader in ingredient solutions, both of which are actively supporting CFG’s commercial expansion.
Tom Ellen, Chief Financial Officer at Clean Food Group, said the investment reflects strong confidence in the company’s progress and future potential. He noted that the funding will enable Clean Food Group to operationalise the world’s largest facility for yeast-derived oils and advance its long-term vision for sustainable food manufacturing.
Rodrigo Hortega de Velasco, Managing Partner at Döhler Ventures, highlighted the significance of the Knowsley acquisition, describing it as a key step toward large-scale production and broader market adoption of sustainable oil alternatives.
Jim Mellon, Chairman and Founder of New Agrarian, emphasised the urgency of building resilient supply chains in the face of global challenges such as climate change and geopolitical instability. He noted that CFG’s technology offers a scalable solution to these issues while presenting a strong investment opportunity.
Driving the Future of Sustainable Ingredients
Clean Food Group aims to transform the production of essential oils and fats by leveraging fermentation processes that utilise food waste feedstocks. Through scalable microbial production, the company is working to reduce dependence on environmentally intensive supply chains while supporting the shift toward localised, low-impact manufacturing.
By combining innovation with sustainability, CFG is positioning itself at the forefront of a rapidly evolving global food system.
About Clean Food Group
CFG is a leading UK biotech manufacturer of sustainable oils and fats for the global food, cosmetic and pet food industries. Through its proprietary CLEAN OilCell™ technology platform, CFG delivers functional oils (CLEAN Oil™) and fats (CLEAN Fat™) at price parity to agriculture alternatives, whilst meeting the growing need for local and sustainable production. In 2025, its CleanOil™ 25 product received approval to be used as a cosmetics ingredient in the UK, US and Europe.
Founded in 2022 after eight years of pioneering research, CFG manufactures its oils and fats from food waste, leveraging scalable yeast strains and fermentation technology to deliver sustainable alternatives to traditional oil and fat ingredients. With the manufacturing process now validated at scale and significantly bolstered by the transformation acquisition of a 1 million litre fermentation facility in Knowsley, Liverpool in 2025, CFG has strategic and industrial collaborations in place with leading global FMCG and ingredients manufacturers and has a strong demand pipeline for its products.
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