Producer
Lallemand (Evolva/Hevani)
Canadian biotechnology company (privately held); acquired Swiss biotech Evolva for CHF 20 million in 2024, gaining the world's first commercially available precision fermentation vanillin. Launched as Hevani in 2025-2026: vanillin produced from sugar via engineered yeast, qualifying as 'natural flavoring substance' under EU and FDA definitions. 98% purity. Volume is tiny relative to guaiacol-route production but commands significant premium on 'natural' labeling. Lallemand also produces baker's yeast, wine yeasts, dairy starter cultures, and beer yeasts from the same fermentation infrastructure.
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Baking Yeast & Ingredients
35%Wine, Beer & Spirits Fermentation
22%Animal Nutrition
18%Plant Care & Biocontrol
12%Precision Fermentation Vanillin (Hevani)
5%Pharma & Specialty
8%
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Did you know2023
Lallemand acquired Swiss biotech Evolva in 2024 for CHF 20 million — less than one-tenth of what IFF had committed in a supply agreement with Evolva for fermentation-based vanillin in 2013. Evolva spent 11 years and tens of millions in venture capital developing yeast-fermented vanillin from sugar (marketed as Hevani from 2025-2026). The fermentation route produces vanillin that can be labeled 'natural flavoring substance' under EU Regulation No. 1334/2008 and potentially under FDA natural flavor definitions — the same 'natural' label that Madagascar vanilla beans command. At $15-20/kg for petrochemical vanillin vs. $100-200/kg for Madagascar vanilla extract equivalent flavor, fermentation vanillin fills a novel 'natural at premium' niche. Lallemand is the only company producing dairy starter cultures for European cheese AND fermentation-derived vanilla flavor for mass-market food — from identical bioreactor infrastructure.
Food Ingredients First ↗Origin2023
Lallemand Inc. was founded in 1923 in Montreal by René-Marc Lallemand, initially as a yeast trading business supplying the Canadian baking industry. The family firm grew through WWII when industrial yeast was critical for wartime bread production and fermentation-derived products for the war effort. It remained privately held by the Lallemand family through the 20th century, expanding its yeast expertise into wine, beer, animal nutrition, and agricultural biocontrol — all built on the same core fermentation microbiology platform. The 2024 acquisition of Swiss biotech Evolva (for CHF 20 million) added precision fermentation vanillin as the most recent extension of this platform.
Lallemand Inc ↗