Next time you pick up a croissant, a chocolate bar, or a plant-based burger, flip it over and read the label. Near the top, you’ll almost always find a solid fat: butter, palm oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, or something hydrogenated.
There’s a good reason it’s there. Fat does some of the hardest work in food. It’s what gives pastry its flaky layers, makes chocolate melt on your tongue, and keeps a burger juicy. Take it out, and the food falls apart.
The catch is that the fats that do those jobs best often come with nutritional or sustainability baggage. Liquid plant oils can offer a better nutritional profile, but they simply can’t provide the structure manufacturers need. Food producers have been wrestling with that problem for decades.
Israeli foodtech company KaYama believes it has cracked it.
Its ingredient, Olearae™ Struct, takes high-oleic plant oils and turns them into a solid fat that behaves like the conventional fats it replaces.
The secret is in what holds the oil together. In traditional solid fats, saturated fat crystallizes and traps the liquid oil around it. KaYama’s patent-pending technology does it differently: phytonutrients incorporated into the oil form a three-dimensional crystal structure that traps the unsaturated fat.
The payoff is a functional solid fat with up to 90% less saturated fat. Olearae™ Struct is plant-based, minimally processed, and clean label. It has a long shelf life and resists oxidation. It can be fine-tuned for different foods, and it can even carry added nutrients like omega-3s and vitamins.
Even the company’s name reflects what it’s trying to accomplish. KaYama draws on the Hebrew root ק־ו־ם (kum), which carries the idea of standing, enduring, and lasting. The connection reaches back to the Bible itself. In the Aramaic of Daniel, qayam describes God as “living and enduring forever” (Daniel 6:27).
For a company trying to make one of our most basic food ingredients healthier and more sustainable, a name rooted in the idea of endurance fits perfectly.
The real test is the food
A healthier fat is only worth something if food companies will use it and people will enjoy eating it. Factories don’t want to rebuild their production lines, and nobody wants a healthier croissant that doesn’t taste like a croissant.
KaYama built Olearae™Struct to clear both hurdles. It’s a drop-in ingredient that works on existing equipment with no additional capital investment, and KaYama plans to price it competitively with butterfat and cocoa butter.
The company has been putting it to work in three categories where fat makes or breaks the product. In meat alternatives, it delivers juiciness, mouthfeel, and the marbled look that plant-based meat so often lacks, and two producers, The Plantly Butchers and Wonders of Nature, have already signed letters of intent. In bakery, a renowned chef tested it for laminated dough, where KaYama says it created flaky, tender results. In chocolate, lab testing showed consistent texture and a warm, satisfying mouthfeel.
Industry interest is building. KaYama has secured a paid pilot with CBC Israel, signed NDAs and material transfer agreements with several leading food companies, and held more than 25 meetings with industry experts and prospective customers.
A huge market waiting for a better option
KaYama isn’t trying to replace every gram of fat on the planet. It’s starting with bakery, chocolate and confectionery, meat alternatives and alternative dairy, launching first in Israel, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands before expanding to North America.
Even that focused slice of the food industry is massive. KaYama estimates total fat usage in these categories across Europe and North America at about $303 billion, with roughly $53 billion that could be replaced by an ingredient like its own. By the company’s estimates, capturing just 2% of that would represent around $1 billion.
From kilograms to tons
Behind KaYama is a team built to take an idea from the lab to the factory. CEO Anna Sliozberg is a two-time founder with more than 15 years of experience in business development, financial planning, operations, and leadership. CTO Gad Harris is a chemical process engineer with more than 15 years in R&D, process engineering, and scale-up. And Chef Yuval Ben Neriah, a MasterChef Israel judge and owner of Taizu, serves as culinary advisor.
Now comes the challenge: scale. KaYama currently produces Olearae™Struct in pilot batches of 20 to 40 kilograms. Next up is demo production of 250 to 500 kilograms per batch, followed by continuous industrial production of one to three metric tons per day.
To get there, KaYama is raising $500,000 to $1 million. That investment would also unlock about another $500,000 in matching non-dilutive grant funding, and it will go toward regulatory readiness, commercial pilots, and scaling up production.
KaYama believes people shouldn’t have to choose between food that tastes great and food that’s better for them. Now it wants to prove that idea can work not just in a lab or a chef’s kitchen, but on factory lines around the world.
Want to be part of it? Invest in KaYama and help bring healthier fats to market.
Disclaimer: This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell securities. Investing in startups involves significant risk and potential loss of capital. Always conduct independent due diligence and consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.
