Melt&Marble, a manufacturer of precision-fermented designer fats, has hired its first ever CTO. Tue Hodal, an industrial biotech veteran with decades of experience brings extensive knowledge of large scale manufacturing to guide the company as it scales to commercial production.
Hodal’s new position at Melt&Marble brings more than 25 years of expertise in scaling up operations at organisations in the bioscience and pharmaceutical space. His background encompasses high-level roles in leading firms across Denmark, including Chr. Hansen, Novo Nordisk and Lundbeck. Most recently, Hodal served as CTO at bacterial biotherapeutics developer Bacthera.
As Melt&Marble scales up its production processes, Hodal will optimise bioprocesses and downstream operations for large-scale, economically sustainable production.
Also joining the expanding startup is ex-Mycorena CIO and experienced product innovation specialist Dr. Paulo Teixeira, who assumes the role of Product Manager to drive product development forward. Teixeira combines expertise in both the business and technical aspects of launching fermentation-based products. At mycoprotein startup Mycorena he led the development of the company’s mycoprotein ingredient. He holds a PhD in Bioengineering from Chalmers University of Technology. In his new role, Teixeira will be key to shaping the company’s production vision, roadmap and go-to-market strategy.
“Melt&Marble has a proven technology that will be key to creating the next generation of alternative food and cosmetics products,” said CTO Tue Hodal, “Reducing the carbon footprint of our food systems is an urgent priority and innovative solutions like Melt&Marble’s will be at the centre of that effort. The scalability of the technology has already been demonstrated and I look forward to working with the team to expand our operations.”
“Sustainability is my top priority,” added Paulo Teixeira, PhD. “Melt&Marble has the world-class technology and expertise needed to overcome the taste and mouthfeel challenges in the alternative meat sector – key hurdles that must be addressed if we are to shift away from animal products.”
Last September, Melt&Marble reported the viability of its designer fat production process to tens of thousands of litres and is eyeing expansion potential to tonnes of fat per batch in 2025.
“Both of our new hires will play central roles in the future success of Melt&Marble,” said Anastasia Krivoruchko, co-founder and CEO of Melt&Marble. “We knew we needed a CTO with significant technical and operational expertise, someone who understands the unique challenges of scaling a startup to full commercial production. With experience spanning both large corporations and high-growth startups, Tue brings exactly the skill set we need. At the same time, Paulo brings valuable experience in translating unmet market needs into innovative products that offer consumers a sustainable alternative to animal-based and existing plant-based options.”
Melt&Marble’s precision fermentation techniques engineer the metabolism of yeast to create fats tailored for desired composition and functionality for different food and personal care applications. 2024 was a successful year for Melt&Marble; besides further improving and demonstrating the commercial scalability of its production process, it secured €2.76m in EU grants. Melt&Marble recently announced a partnership with Finnish food and dairy giant Valio to explore development of next-generation plant-based products, focused on delivering sustainable alternatives to consumers in the future.
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