Hodal brings more than 25 years of experience in scaling up operations in the bioscience and pharmaceutical space, and has held a number of high-level roles across the likes of Novo Nordisk, Lundbeck and Chr. Hansen. Most recently, he served as CTO at bacterial biotherapeutics developer Bacthera.
As Melt&Marble scales up its production processes, Hodal will be tasked with optimising bioprocesses and downstream operations for large-scale, economically sustainable production.
New product manager
The business has also announced the appointment of Dr. Paulo Teixeira, ex-Mycorena chief innovation officer and experienced product innovation specialist, to the role of product manager.
Holding a PHD in bioengineering from Chalmers University of Technology, Teixeira led the development of the Mycorena’s mycoprotein ingredient. In his new role, he will play a key role in shaping the company’s production vision, roadmap and go-to-market strategy.
Co-founder and CEO Anastasia Krivoruchko said: “Both of our new hires will play central roles in the future success 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.
‘Valuable experience’
“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.
Last year, the developer of precision fermented fats secured a €2.5m (£2.1m) grant and potential future equity investment from the European Innovation Council. It also 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.
Meanwhile, in other appointment news, premium meal prep delivery service FuelHub has appointed Steve King as its new head of growth.
