Producer
Novonesis
Formed January 2024 from the merger of Novozymes A/S and Chr. Hansen Holding A/S — the largest merger in Danish industrial history. Novonesis inherited Chr. Hansen's dairy cultures business (mesophilic starter cultures, probiotics, cheese cultures) plus Novozymes' industrial enzymes. The merger consolidated two of the three largest global fermentation companies into one Copenhagen-area entity.
2
Inputs supplied
1
Goods downstream
3
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
2 inputs Novonesis supplies
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Goods downstream
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Where they make it
3 facilities
Novonesis -- Hoersholm, Denmark (former Chr. Hansen HQ) →
DKHoersholm, Capital Region, Denmark · manufacturing_plant
Former Chr. Hansen HQ and primary natural color processing facility. Annatto and other natural colors (carmine, turmeric) processed here from Peruvian and Kenyan raw materials. Post-2024 merger with Novozymes, now operates as Novonesis. ~30% of global natural food color market.
Novonesis Kalundborg Fermentation Site →
DKKalundborg, Zealand · fermentation
Part of Kalundborg Symbiosis — the world's first industrial ecology network. Novonesis produces enzymes and cultures here using waste heat from the adjacent Asnæs power station. The symbiosis includes Equinor, Gyproc, and Novo Nordisk.
Novonesis Køge Fermentation Complex →
DKKøge, Zealand · fermentation
One of the largest industrial fermentation complexes in Europe; originally Novozymes; inherited by Novonesis post-merger. Produces enzymes and dairy cultures via large-scale submerged fermentation.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Food & Beverages (Cultures & Enzymes)
40%Health & Nutrition (Probiotics)
20%Bioenergy & Industrial
20%Agriculture & Animal Health
12%Household, Laundry & Other
8%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2024
Novonesis (formed 2024) operates across five industries that share a common fermentation biology platform but serve entirely different markets: (1) dairy — starter cultures that make cheese and yogurt; (2) health — probiotics for human dietary supplements and infant formula; (3) bioenergy — industrial enzymes that break down cellulose for bioethanol from crop waste; (4) laundry — proteases and lipases in detergent pods that clean clothes at low temperature; and (5) agriculture — soil microbiome products that improve crop yield. The same fungal/bacterial fermentation expertise and industrial fermentation infrastructure that produces Lactobacillus cultures for cheese also produces cellulases for biofuel conversion and subtilisins for laundry detergents. Novonesis is the single company most embedded across the broadest range of industrial fermentation applications — from the bacteria in your Activia yogurt to the enzyme in your Tide pod to the cellulase breaking down corn stover for ethanol, all from Copenhagen-area fermentation heritage.
Novonesis Group ↗Incident2023
In January 2024, Chr. Hansen Holding A/S (world's largest dairy starter culture producer, ~40% market share) completed a merger with Novozymes A/S (world's largest industrial enzyme company) to form Novonesis Group. This is the largest merger in Danish industrial history. The resulting entity combines the #1 dairy culture supplier with the dominant industrial enzyme supplier — concentrating two critical food-processing input categories into a single company, traded on the Copenhagen stock exchange, with revenues of ~DKK 40B.
Novonesis Group A/S ↗Origin2023
Novonesis is the product of two Danish heritage companies with 150-year histories: Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, founded in 1874 by pharmacist Christian D.A. Hansen who developed the world's first standardized rennet (replacing inconsistent artisanal animal-derived rennets in cheese production) and then dairy starter cultures; and Novozymes A/S, spun off from Novo Nordisk in 2000 (itself founded in 1923 from the merger of Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium and Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium as a Danish insulin manufacturer). Novozymes inherited Novo Nordisk's industrial fermentation capability — originally built to produce insulin — and redirected it toward industrial enzymes for laundry detergents, textiles, and eventually biofuels. The January 2024 merger creating Novonesis combined the world's largest dairy culture supplier (#1 market share, ~40%) with the world's largest industrial enzyme company — bringing together a company that started making cheese rennet in 1874 and a company that started making insulin in 1923.
Novonesis Group ↗