Coffee-alternative innovator Koppie advances towards commercial launch with 1000 ton capacity and additional
Ghent, Belgium — [February, 2026] — Climate volatility continues to negatively impact coffee supply and consequently pricing has become increasingly unstable. Koppie is building a tasty, scalable and easy to integrate coffee alternative designed for “hybrid” coffees: blends that combine coffee and Koppie to reduce reliance on conventional coffee supply, while maintaining taste and reducing emissions. Today, Koppie announces major progress in scaling, commercial validation and support.
Industrial readiness validated
Koppie has finalised product development, offering a full range of B2B products tailored to match different coffee origins, taste profiles, and use cases. The portfolio now covers multiple flavours of Koppie beans, blends for espresso & filter, as well as Koppie Concentrate for RTD coffee, Ice cream, & Bakery applications. The company recently completed a first successful 4-ton industrial trial run, providing confidence in future scalability and confirming production economics. The business is comfortable it can support up to 1000 tons of capacity in 2026, ensuring the required volumes for first launch partners.
“Seeing the results of this industrial trial gives us confidence in cost, scalability, and sustainability and therefore a real sense of pride,” said Pascal Mertens, Chief Product Officer & co-Founder of Koppie. “Our focus now is on further cost optimisation and scaling all product variants.”
Growing Commercial Traction built on strong validation
Koppie is currently engaged in multiple discussions with coffee majors, retailers, and ingredient companies, with a shared ambition to bring hybrid coffee products to market before end of year. These discussions reflect the width of the portfolio with a range of applications, formats, and brand strategies. This demonstrates a growing interest in scalable solutions that preserve the coffee experience while hedging against supply constraints and volatility from the industry as a whole.
Koppie’s product has gained strong validation across both consumer testing & industry recognition. A major boon for partners is the taste match, as well as the possibility of roasting the Koppie bean themselves. In a consumer test, conducted with a commercial partner, 80% of participants rated an Arabica-blended product at least as good as regular coffee while 40% preferred the hybrid product outright. The company recently also won “Best Innovative Food or Beverage Ingredient” at Fi Europe 2025 in Paris, validating the novelty and relevance of its approach within the coffee ecosystem.
Welcoming DOEN ventures as an investor
To expand & accelerate commercial as well as product development efforts, the company has attracted additional funding, bringing total funding to more than €2 million. The company secured a follow-on investment from DOEN Ventures, an impact investor with a track record investing across consumer value chains, with notable investments in Fairphone, Seepje, Chocolatemakers & Orbisk. This investment is complemented by a subsidy through the “Food Pioneer Accelerators programme”, designed to help start-ups cover the high cost of industrial scaling.
A necessary hedge against rising coffee volatility
Coffee is the second most consumed beverage globally and demand continues to rise. Meanwhile, climate change is having a significant impact on coffee production, causing triple digit price increases over the last years and expected future volatility. To make matters worse, coffee production is a considerable carbon emitter and contributes to roughly 5% of deforestation for EU imports. A recent life-cycle assessment confirms Koppie’s sustainability advantage here: producing 1kg of roasted Koppie is equivalent to 1.19kg of CO2 emissions, substantially lower than most coffees.
Tom Doornik, Impact Investment Associate DOEN Ventures: “If we want to be able to meet the demand without maintaining existing harmful practices, we need a radically more sustainable alternative, without compromising on taste, affordability, or compatibility in existing production processes. That is exactly what Koppie has brought to market!”
