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It’s easy to get caught up in the news and activities of the industry’s global giants, but what about the smaller firms pushing boundaries with bold ideas? In this instalment of Start-up of the Month – which celebrates lesser-known companies and their innovations – we speak to Jani Puroranta, CEO of Collo, a company looking to solve F&B’s liquid processing challenges.

Can you give us a brief history of Collo… how it was founded, what inspired the idea, and what the core mission of the company is?

Collo’s story began in 2017 at Tampere University, where our founding team came together around research into electromagnetic field technology. Matti Järveläinen approached fellow researcher Teemu Yli-Hallila with a question that sparked the idea: could they send signals into materials and learn something new from the way they responded? That curiosity led to Collo’s patent-pending solution for liquid analysis.

From the start, Collo set out to solve three key challenges in liquid processing: sensor fouling and the resulting measurement drift, the lack of a single universal solution that works across all liquid processes, and the need for remote, data-driven maintenance instead of calendar-based servicing. Those goals led us to develop an RF-based sensor, unique in the market.

Our mission is to help dairy, food and beverage producers make their plants smarter and more sustainable by reducing product losses, improving control, and optimising resource use. As we like to say, we measure the “fingerprints” of liquid processes to understand and control them in real time, improving safety while saving energy, materials and time.

What specific challenges in F&B production led you to develop Collo’s technology, and how did you identify these opportunities?

Of the 160M tonnes of raw milk produced in the EU annually, up to 4% is wasted in processes like product pushout and cleaning cycles, totalling 6.5 million tonnes of spilt milk per year. A key reason for this is that the dairy and beverage industries both rely on legacy sensor technology and measurement principles developed in the 1880s to distinguish between different liquids in the production process. These legacy tools can’t accurately measure properties such as fat or protein content, and they often suffer from fouling and drift.

In industries such as dairy, efficient quality control is also critical. Consumer demand has shifted toward a wider variety of products: lactose-free milk, skyr, speciality cheeses, which means smaller batches and hundreds of daily changeovers. It’s essential to ensure that products are free from contaminants like cleaning chemical residues left after CIP operations.

Can you walk us through how Collo’s analyser works and what makes it different from other process monitoring or optimisation solutions?

Collo’s analysers use radio frequencies to send an electromagnetic field into the liquid and then measure its response. This approach reveals information that conventional sensors simply can’t detect, such as fat and protein content or contamination in opaque and complex liquids. Measurements are taken directly in-line, made possible by our electromagnetic field technology combined with advanced algorithms.

The key differentiator is that our sensors are reliable and do not require constant calibration, since they are non-fouling and non-drifting. Traditional optical sensors quickly degrade in industrial environments, losing accuracy as they become coated with residue. Collo’s RF-based system avoids that entirely. It’s the difference between a periscope and radar: where optical systems can only “see” what’s in front of them, Collo penetrates deep into the liquid to reveal its true characteristics.

We also go beyond detection. Our analysers convert complex RF data into automation signals in under one second, enabling real-time process control. That means we don’t just identify inefficiencies, we eliminate them as they happen.

How have customers such as Fonterra, Danone or Valio benefited from using your solution in terms of efficiency, sustainability or cost savings?

Collo’s technology typically reduces liquid losses by approximately 25 % in processing plants. Considering the dairy industry loses about 4 % of raw material due to limited inline control, the savings potential is substantial.

For a single facility processing 100 million litres of milk each year, that 4 % loss equates to roughly €3 million in wasted product, energy and wastewater management. By detecting transitions and losses in real time, Collo allows manufacturers to recover that product and significantly lower their wastewater treatment costs.

In beverage operations, customers have seen major reductions in CIP cycle times, water consumption and chemical usage, while maintaining high product quality and achieving faster changeovers between product types.

Are there particular processes, like fermentation or clean-in-place, where Collo's technology has made a significant difference, and why?

Collo’s technology has proven particularly effective in three areas: saving water through optimised, CIP cycles, eliminating product loss during pushouts, and ensuring consistent quality with raw material measurement and contamination detection.

Take clean-in-place (CIP) for example. Traditional sensors struggle to reliably detect when a CIP process phase is complete and is ready for the next phase. As a result, plants often run longer, water-intensive rinses as a safety margin. Collo’s system, however, can detect these transitions in real time, allowing operators to stop cycles at precisely the right moment.

In pushout processes, common in both dairy and beverage production, our technology identifies exactly when the product changes to water or vice versa. This enables recovery of valuable products that would otherwise be lost. This is especially valuable for plants running multiple products daily, with hundreds of changeovers, where even small improvements can add up quickly.

Can you share a concrete example or case study where your technology has had a measurable impact on a client's operations?

One standout example comes from a beverage plant. After installing Collo’s analyser, they cut their CIP cycle by 26 minutes, which was a 23.5% improvement. That included 4.8 minutes saved in the pre-rinse, 5.1 minutes during caustic circulation, and 15.1 minutes in the final rinse.

The resource savings were substantial: 1,458 litres of water saved in the pre-rinse and 4,750 litres in the final rinse, plus 1,560 litres of chemicals during caustic circulation. For a facility running multiple CIP cycles every day, these savings quickly multiply. For instance, a plant performing 500 cycles a year could save over 3 million litres of water, along with significant chemical costs.

This example shows how Collo can deliver both operational efficiency and sustainability benefits: faster production, lower costs, and reduced environmental impact, all at once.

Sustainability is a big focus for many F&B manufacturers. How does Collo help companies meet regulatory targets or broader net-zero and emissions goals?

Collo helps manufacturers make measurable progress toward their sustainability goals by optimising resource and water use. For example, the dairy industry is extremely water-intensive, using roughly 34% of all water in the food sector.

These processes generate wastewater that’s costly and energy-intensive to treat. On top of that, the industry loses about 4% of production due to poor process control, equating to over €1 billion annually in the EU when you include both product loss and wastewater treatment costs.

By providing real-time detection and control, Collo reduces unnecessary rinses and chemical use. A mid-sized dairy plant can save millions of litres of raw milk each year, preventing up to 11 million kilos of CO₂ emissions and 35 million litres of clean water from going to waste. Beverage operations see similar benefits, including reduced energy use from shorter processing cycles and less waste treatment. These are tangible, measurable contributions to net-zero targets.

How has the F&B industry's increasing focus on sustainability and operational efficiency influenced Collo's strategy or product development?

The industry’s sharp focus on sustainability and operational efficiency hasn’t just influenced Collo’s strategy – it has validated our core mission, as well as accelerated interest in our technology. With many major players committing to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, plant managers are seeking solutions that deliver both environmental and economic benefits.

What’s particularly appealing is that improvements can be made without replacing existing infrastructure. Our analysers integrate directly with current automation systems, allowing manufacturers to move toward an IoT-enabled plant without major capital investment.

We also focus on making our technology easy to deploy and scale. It’s not just about identifying problems – our machine learning models interpret complex RF signals and convert them into actionable automation commands in under one second, allowing immediate adjustments on the line.

What have been the biggest challenges Collo has faced as a start-up – technical, operational, or market-related – and how did you overcome them?

One significant challenge has been market education since this is the first truly new sensor technology innovation in liquid processing in several decades. When we introduce Collo, people try to fit it into familiar categories when we've actually created something fundamentally different. We measure the complete liquid fingerprint through RF technology, capturing properties that traditional sensors simply can’t detect.

Technically, our key target has been creating analyser technology that does not foul or drift and works across all liquids and processes. Our RF-based approach has been a breakthrough, maintaining accuracy over time where traditional sensors fail.

Building trust in a conservative, safety-first industry requires patience, rigorous testing, and letting the results speak for themselves.

What advice would you give to other start-ups trying to innovate in the food and beverage space, particularly when introducing new technology to established manufacturers?

Focus on solving measurable, expensive problems. The F&B industry won’t adopt a technology just because it’s novel – you need clear ROI and proven reliability. Start with pilot projects that show tangible value.

Recognise that you’re entering a risk-averse industry for good reasons: food safety and quality can’t be compromised. Design your solution to integrate with existing infrastructure and automation systems to lower adoption barriers.

Finally, align your innovation with strategic industry priorities: sustainability, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency. If your technology helps manufacturers meet emissions targets while boosting profitability, you’re addressing their most pressing needs.

From your experience, what lessons have you learned about scaling a start-up in the F&B sector, securing funding, or getting clients on board?

The F&B sector is very different from software. Hardware solutions have longer development cycles and need patient capital. We’ve been fortunate to partner with investors who understand this, including Maki.vc, Scale Capital, FORWARD.one, and SEB Greentech Venture Capital.

Customer relationships are everything. Reliability and safety are non-negotiable. Once you demonstrate consistent results, clients become long-term partners and advocates, opening doors globally.

Ongoing support is also crucial. Industrial customers need partners, not just vendors. They rely on help with integration, optimisation, and scaling across multiple sites. Building that into your business model from the start is key.

The biggest lesson: in industrial markets, results speak louder than anything else. When a plant sees they can save 26 minutes and thousands of litres per CIP cycle, or recover €1.5 million annually, the conversation changes entirely.

Looking ahead, what are Collo's next key milestones, and where do you see the company and the wider F&B industry in the next few years?

After spending a few years building and tailoring our technology for the dairy and beverage industries, our next phase will focus on commercial scale-up, primarily, though not exclusively, across Europe. There are over 12 000 dairy plants in Europe alone, and their product losses amount to over €1 billion annually.

I see the F&B industry shifting from reactive to predictive process management. Real-time intelligence will become standard, allowing plants to prevent problems rather than discover them after the fact. IoT, machine learning, and advanced sensors will transform liquid processing. Collo is excited to be at the forefront of this change, helping the industry turn every drop into value.