German life-science start-up Evanium has raised €2.2 million in seed funding to address one of the nutraceutical sector’s most persistent and costly challenges: poor bioavailability of active ingredients.

The round was led by FoodLabs and Feast Ventures, with additional backing from existing angel investors.

The capital injection will support scaling of Evanium’s proprietary Optisolv platform, expansion of its ingredient portfolio and further clinical validation as the company targets growth across nutraceuticals, functional foods and nutricosmetics.

According to Evanium, despite commanding premium price points, many supplements deliver limited efficacy due to low absorption rates. Evanium’s Optisolv technology is designed to overcome this barrier through a dual coating system that enhances solubility and uptake.

The platform combines a cyclodextrin-based inner core with a phospholipid outer shell, stabilising ingredients in a highly dispersible, crystal-free form.

This approach is said to significantly improve solubility and digestive release, particularly for challenging compounds.

Felix Rolka, co founder and CEO of Evanium, said: “The future of nutraceuticals lies not in higher dosages, but in smarter formulations. Optisolv turns promising bioactives into high performance ingredients, enabling truly effective products. With this funding, we are able to accelerate the scale of our impact.”

Evanium has already begun translating this technology into market-ready applications. In 2025, the company launched an Optisolv Curcumin product in partnership with Hevert-Arzneimittel, marking its first commercial deployment and validating the platform in a real-world setting.

The company has since expanded its pipeline to include four functional ingredients, Curcumin, Berberine, Boswellia and Passiflora, while continuing to build out its intellectual property portfolio, with four patents filed to date.

Benedikt Stöckert, Partner at Feast Ventures, said: “With a proven technology, early commercial traction, and a dedicated platform strategy, EVANIUM is well-positioned to become a key technology partner for next generation ingredients in applications across food, supplements, nutricosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.”

This latest funding round underscores growing investor confidence in technologies that improve ingredient performance, especially as consumer demand rises for effective, clean-label solutions.

Following this funding round Evanium is increasing its visibility, with planned appearances at Vitafoods Europe and Food Ingredients Europe this year.