The 2026 Green Transition Business Competition gala highlighted pioneers of the green transition – Volare Oy wins the competition
Volare Oy has won Biocluster Finland’s Green Transition Business Competition with its solution that turns food industry side streams into sustainable protein, oil and fertilizer ingredients. NPHarvest Oy was chosen as the Audience Favorite. The competition highlights young Finnish companies that promote sustainable development and provide solutions to environmental challenges.
The winners were announced at the Biocluster Finland Green Transition Gala in Helsinki on Friday, May 22, 2026. In selecting the winner, the jury placed particular emphasis on the innovativeness, scalability and environmental impacts of the solution, as well as the entrepreneurial team’s capacity.
The evaluation criteria and the Award Ceremony
The winning company, Volare Oy, is a Finnish biotechnology company building a circular refining platform for food industry side streams. Using its proprietary insect-based process, Volare turns side streams into sustainable protein, oil and fertilizer ingredients for aquafeed, pet food and other industries. The company’s solution reduces waste, replaces resource-intensive alternatives and strengthens local protein self-sufficiency.
In 2025, Volare secured €26 million to build its first industrial-scale plant in Pori, Finland, accelerating the transition toward a more circular and environmentally sustainable food system.
The jury selected seven award nominees among all applicants, who delivered pitch presentations at the Gala. The winner was chosen based on both the preliminary evaluation and the pitch presentation.
– Volare meets the competition criteria exceptionally well. The company’s market potential is substantial and promising, and both its commercialization prospects and mission were communicated very convincingly through concrete customer examples. The company has made a strong start, is progressing ambitiously, and has clearly demonstrated how it is best positioned within its competitive landscape to meet customer needs. The first major milestone, the completion of an industrial-scale production facility, is already just around the corner, said the representative of the jury, Investment Director Vicktor Wahlberg from Taaleri Bioindustry.
Wahlberg also noted that selecting the winner this year was challenging, as the lineup of presenters was strong and the differences between the pitches were very narrow. In addition to Wahlberg, the jury included representatives from Aalto University, Business Finland, Finnvera, the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), the University of Oulu, and VTT.
The award was presented by Johanna Kohl, Programme Director at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), who noted in her speech that she was highly impressed by the level of expertise in Finland.
– High-level expertise is key to building growth and strengthening competitiveness in Finland. The vision of the Natural Resources Institute Finland is to jointly build a bold bioeconomy society where economic conditions, the environment, societal acceptance, and social perspectives are recognized and reconciled. Today, the companies addressed all of these aspects impressively, Kohl said.
After the announcement, Volare’s CFO Marko Rintanen said that it is a great honor to win the competition.
– This win feels significant to us, as we strongly believe that the food system needs new, more resource-efficient and effective solutions. We have been building Volare ambitiously toward industrial scale. It is encouraging to see that industry stakeholders also recognize the great potential in this, Rintanen said.
NPHarvest wins the audience vote
The audience voted NPHarvest Oy as their favorite, with a presentation that impressed with its clarity and engaging delivery.
NPHarvest is a Finnish deep-tech start-up that recovers nitrogen and phosphorus from concentrated wastewater. Founded in 2023, following seven years of academic research at Aalto University, NPHarvest has developed the Nutrient Catcher system that simultaneously recovers 90 % of nitrogen and phosphorus from nutrient-rich wastewater and sludge streams, reducing opex by up to 86 % through energy and chemical savings, and avoiding 31,500 t of CO2e emissions per unit annually. The system produces fertilizer-grade ammonium salts without relying on natural gas.
After the win, Federico Varalta, Head of Business Operations at NPHarvest, shared the company’s outlook for future.
– The future looks bright. Although we are still a small team, we have a strong drive to succeed and to build sustainable business, Varalta said.
Guest speakers at the Gala shared visions for a more sustainable future
The Gala also featured speeches from the winner of the Green Transition Business Competition 2024 and the cluster’s first supporting organization.
Laura Rahikka, CEO of Hycamite TCD Technologies, provided an update on the 2024 winner. Hycamite TCD Technologies is a cleantech company based in Kokkola, specializing in the production of clean hydrogen and solid carbon through the thermocatalytic decomposition of (bio)methane.
In her speech, Rahikka noted that the company is currently placing an even stronger focus on the European market. She also highlighted that in 2025, Hycamite was selected as one of the EU’s strategic projects focusing on critical minerals and raw materials.
– A total of six out of the 47 selected strategic projects are located in Finland. Three of these are based in Kokkola, and a fourth has been developed there, Rahikka said.
Regarding the company’s future plans, Rahikka highlighted Hycamite’s CRMA project, under which the company aims to build a smaller demonstration-scale graphite production plant in connection with its Kokkola facility in 2027. Later, in the second phase of the CRMA project, the goal is to construct a larger graphite plant with a production capacity covering up to 40 % of Europe’s battery-grade graphite demand. This represents a major investment for the company, with further scaling planned into the 2030s.
Vestia Oy, Biocluster Finland’s first supporter, was represented at the Gala by its CEO Olavi Soinio, who noted that the collaboration is based on shared values. The partnership supports the circular economy, low-emission solutions, and the renewal of business operations, and provides Vestia with a way to make a broader impact beyond its own organization.
– Vestia operates at the downstream end of the value chain, but the real solutions are created earlier, when solutions are developed to reduce waste and reuse materials. We like to think of this metaphorically: Vestia is downstream, while the cluster and the companies involved in the Green Transition Business Competition are upstream. The solutions developed there ultimately become visible in our work as well and help move us toward a more sustainable future, Soinio said.
Biocluster Finland strengthens collaboration among companies in the green transition
At the core of Biocluster Finland’s activities is the promotion of green growth business and innovation, both nationally and through international cooperation. The cluster aims to create a platform that brings together companies, development projects, and new solutions, while accelerating the sharing of knowledge. Through the Green Transition Business Competition, the cluster seeks to highlight Finnish green growth entrepreneurship and encourage companies to adopt more environmentally sustainable business practices.
– More environmentally sustainable business is a key part of sustainable development, helping us respond to changes and challenges in the operating environment. Anticipating market developments has become increasingly difficult for companies in the current crisis-affected global landscape. Those companies that adapt their business operations to future needs will gain a competitive advantage and a frontrunner position, said Anne Sormunen, Cluster Manager at Biocluster Finland.
The Green Transition Gala is an annual event that rotates around Finland. The gala was first organized in Levi in 2023 as the evening event of an EU event. In subsequent years, it has been held at Kulttuurikasarmi in Helsinki in autumn 2024 and at Oulu City Hall in spring 2025.
Biocluster Finland is a consortium that promotes green growth business and innovation, as well as resilience and security. The national cluster highlights its award nominee companies as Finnish pioneers of the green transition. The work is carried out in international cooperation with clusters in other countries and with the European Commission. Biocluster Finland’s cluster network includes a wide range of companies, funding organizations and R&D organisations.
Further information:
| Biocluster Finland: Anne Sormunen Cluster Manager +358 400 384 507 anne.sormunen@biocluster.fi https://biocluster.fi/ | Volare Oy: Jarna Hyvönen Chief Executive Officer +358 50 530 2965 jarna@volare.fi www.volare.fi/ | NPHarvest Oy: Federico Varalta Head of Business Operations +358 40 707 2462 federico@npharvest.fi www.npharvest.fi/ |