Mykor Raises £4 Million to Scale Mycelium Construction Systems Grown From Waste

• Bristol-based Mykor has secured £4 million in a funding round led by Clean Growth Fund, bringing total capital raised to £7.5 million, to accelerate industrial-scale production of its mycelium-based construction products.

• Mykor's biofabrication process combines engineered mycelium strains, green chemistry additives, and closed-loop automated manufacturing to grow construction panels from agricultural and industrial waste within days, rather than extracting finite raw materials.

• With £338 million in offtake agreements already signed and tightening building regulations in both the UK and EU, the raise positions Mykor to expand production capacity and embed low-carbon biomaterials into mainstream construction supply chains.

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A Growing Problem in the Built Environment

Construction is responsible for roughly 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions, split between embodied carbon in materials (around 11%) and operational energy use (around 28%). Insulation sits at the intersection of both figures: it directly reduces heating and cooling energy, but conventional insulation materials, including expanded polystyrene and mineral wool, carry significant embodied carbon and are often non-renewable or combustible.

Regulatory pressure is intensifying. The UK Government's Future Homes Standard, due to take effect in 2027, will require new homes to meet substantially higher energy efficiency thresholds. The EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is simultaneously mandating zero-emission standards for new buildings and large-scale retrofits across member states. For contractors and developers, finding materials that satisfy both regulatory requirements and commercial viability is becoming more difficult.

What Mykor Has Built

Founded in Bristol in 2021 by CEO Olivia Page and COO Valentina Dipietro, Mykor grows construction products using mycelium, the dense root-like network of fungi, fed on agricultural and industrial waste streams. The process produces structural and insulating components within days rather than the centuries required to form conventional raw materials.

The company's platform integrates three elements: proprietary engineered mycelium strains, green chemistry additives that enhance material performance, and closed-loop automated manufacturing. This combination allows Mykor to function not merely as a product manufacturer but as a technology platform, enabling contractors and existing manufacturers to incorporate biomaterials into their current production lines without rebuilding supply chains from scratch.

Its flagship product, MykoSIP, is a prefabricated partition wall system that achieves an estimated carbon saving of approximately 23 kg CO₂e per square metre compared to conventional systems, equivalent to at least 50% lower embodied carbon before accounting for the additional benefit of biogenic carbon storage, which occurs when biological material sequesters atmospheric carbon during growth. The panels also use 90% less water and 40% less electricity than polystyrene equivalents, are mould-free and breathable, and do not emit toxins as they degrade, a property that distinguishes them from synthetic insulation materials. Thermal and acoustic performance is described as comparable to incumbent systems.

Mykor has already deployed the technology on live construction projects and has secured two offtake agreements with UK and European contractors totalling £338 million, a level of commercial commitment unusual at this stage of scale-up. The sector's interest in mycelium-based construction materials is part of a broader pattern of bio-based construction innovation attracting serious industrial and investment attention.

The Funding and the Road Ahead

The £4 million round was led by Clean Growth Fund, a specialist climate-tech venture capital platform that counts this as its 22nd investment. Co-investors include the British Business Bank's South West Investment Fund, deployed via The FSE Group, and Green Angel Ventures, which describes itself as the UK's largest angel syndicate focused on climate change. Innovate UK's investor partnership programme also participated.

Mykor intends to use the capital to scale production and establish a replicable manufacturing model deployable across key markets. The platform approach, relying on existing industrial infrastructure rather than centralised production, reduces the capital intensity of that expansion, though achieving consistent material performance at industrial volumes remains the central technical and operational challenge the company must demonstrate as it moves beyond early commercial projects.