Mykor closes £4M round to scale mycelium construction materials
Bristol, 27 May 2026: Mykor, a biotechnology company transforming industrial and agricultural waste into scalable low-carbon construction products, has secured £4 million in funding to accelerate the scale-up of its industrial biofabrication technologies. The round was led by Clean Growth Fund, with participation from the British Business Bank’s South Investment Fund via The FSE Group, Green Angel Ventures, and support from Innovate UK’s investor partnership programme. The latest raise brings total funding secured by the company to £7.5 million.
The built environment accounts for approximately 39% of global emissions, with around 11% from embodied carbon in materials and a further 28% from operational energy use. Insulation plays a critical role in reducing operational carbon, yet conventional insulation materials are non-renewable, high-carbon and often combustible. As whole-life carbon assessments become standard, developers and contractors are under increasing pressure to reduce both embodied and operational emissions from buildings simultaneously.
Mykor has focused on solving the industrialisation challenge: how to manufacture low-carbon construction materials cost-effectively at commercial scale while meeting the fire, acoustic and performance standards required by mainstream construction. Rather than extracting finite raw materials that can take centuries or millennia to form, Mykor’s biofabrication process grows construction products from agricultural and industrial waste streams within days.
The company’s proprietary technologies combine engineered mycelium strains, green chemistry additives and closed-loop automated manufacturing processes to produce an expanding portfolio of construction products; from prefabricated walls to cavity wall insulation. Rather than operating as a single-product manufacturer, Mykor works as a technology and process platform, enabling contractors and manufacturers to integrate low-carbon biomaterials directly into existing production lines and construction systems. This model allows the company to scale through existing industrial infrastructure rather than relying solely on centralised manufacturing.
Mykor’s first product to market, MykoSIP, a preassembled partition wall, achieves an estimated carbon saving of ~23kgCO₂e per m² compared to incumbent systems, equating to at least 50% carbon savings and higher when accounting for biogenic carbon storage, while maintaining comparable thermal and acoustic performance. The system is designed to reduce embodied and operational carbon without compromising on fire safety, cost, buildability or product performance. Additionally, the panels use 90% less water and 40% less electricity than their polystyrene counterparts. Mould-free and breathable, they also don’t emit toxins as they degrade like synthetic insulation products.
The company is already delivering live construction projects and has secured significant commercial traction, including two large offtake agreements worth £338 million with UK and European contractors. The funding will support the scale-up of production, establishing a replicable model for deploying manufacturing capacity across key markets.
As building standards tighten, materials are becoming a critical constraint; the UK Government’s Future Homes Standard, requiring all new homes to be highly energy efficient from 2027, and the ongoing implementation of the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, mandating zero-emission new buildings and large-scale retrofit. Mykor’s technologies allow contractors and developers to meet these requirements while maintaining performance, cost-effectiveness, and buildability.
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Olivia Page, CEO and Co-founder of Mykor, said:
“We’ve built Mykor around the idea that decarbonising construction cannot come at the expense of cost, performance or practicality. The challenge has never just been inventing a biomaterial — it’s been manufacturing these systems at industrial scale and integrating them into real construction supply chains. This funding allows us to scale that model further alongside major contractors and manufacturing partners globally. We’re very pleased to be working with investors who understand both the urgency of the problem and the scale of the opportunity ahead”
Susannah McClintock, Investment Partner at Clean Growth Fund, said:
"Mykor addresses one of construction's most pressing challenges: reducing embodied carbon without adding cost or complexity. Their solution integrates seamlessly into existing building practices and is cost-competitive with conventional materials — delivering meaningful carbon savings without adding cost. We 're delighted to support this exceptional team as they scale commercially “
Anna Staevska, Investment Manager at The FSE Group added: “We’re delighted to provide this investment from the South West Investment Fund to support genuinely breakthrough materials science in the delivery of meaningful carbon reductions. With strong commercial interest already in place and a clear plan to scale production, Mykor is well-positioned to play a significant role in decarbonising the built environment while building a high-growth, internationally relevant business.”
Surakat Kudehinbu, Senior Investment Executive at Green Angel Ventures, said: "We have been consistently impressed by Olivia, Valentina, and the entire Mykor team’s progress and their dedication to transforming how we build. Their innovative approach to bio-based insulation is exactly the kind of disruptive technology needed to decarbonise the built environment. Green Angel Ventures is delighted to provide this follow-on funding to help Mykor scale its production and meet the growing demand from the construction industry."
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Notes to Editors
About Mykor:
Founded in 2021, Mykor is a biotechnology company developing scalable low-carbon construction systems from industrial and agricultural waste. The company combines engineered mycelium, green chemistry and industrial manufacturing processes to enable contractors and manufacturers to integrate biomaterials directly into mainstream construction systems
Find out more: Mykor.co.uk
About Clean Growth Fund:
Clean Growth Fund is a specialist climate tech venture capital platform. It was set up in 2020 to invest in UK-based innovations that significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions or improve resource efficiency across: power and energy systems, transport and mobility, industrial decarbonisation, buildings and the built environment, agrifood, and the circular economy. This is the fund’s 22nd investment to date.
Find out more: Empowering early stage clean tech entrepreneurs - Clean Growth Fund
About the British Business Bank
The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive economic growth by helping smaller businesses get the finance they need to start, scale and stay in the UK. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government. Its South West Investment Fund offers a range of commercial finance options with small loans from £25,000 and equity investment up to £5m. The fund covers the entire South West region.
About The FSE Group:
The FSE Group manages £366 million of market-gap equity and debt funds, deploying targeted capital through regionally focused programmes to accelerate business scale-up, drive job creation and foster sustainable economic growth.
As a socially responsible Community Interest Company, The FSE Group reinvests every pound of profit to further support UK SMEs. FSE is deeply connected to local ecosystems and uniquely positioned to identify, support and nurture businesses that may otherwise be overlooked. This approach delivers both commercial returns and measurable regional impact.
Find out more: Home | The FSE Group
About Green Angel Ventures:
Green Angel Ventures is the reference investor for early-stage climate innovation in the UK. It manages the EIS Climate Change Fund and Green Angel Syndicate, the UK’s largest angel syndicate of investors fighting climate change. Green Angel Ventures has deployed nearly £60 million across a broad portfolio of climate tech companies that have the greatest potential for climate impact and financial return.
Find out more: Green Angel Ventures | Investors in Emerging Climate Start-ups
Media Contact:
Name: Olivia Page
Title: CEO & Co-Founder
Company: Mykor
Email: Olivia@mykor.co.uk
Website: www.mykor.co.uk