Ecovative acquires Lambert Spawn to expand mycelium production

Ecovative, the world’s leading mycelium technology company, headquartered in Green Island, New York, is acquiring Lambert Spawn Europa B.V., a state-of-the-art mushroom spawn production facility in the Netherlands, from a subsidiary of Pennsylvania-based Lambert Spawn Company.

With this acquisition, the operations of the producer of mycelium materials and products are vertically integrated to include a significant supply of mushroom substrate—combinations of unprocessed agricultural goods inoculated with specialized mushroom strains. The new line helps Ecovative continue its quick international growth as a producer and supplier of mycelium to other businesses.

The Lambert factory will continue to generate spawn for its current clientele, which includes mushroom farmers and mycelium material manufacturers. Additionally, it will create customized substrate mixtures for mycelium material growth. These resources serve a growing number of licensee businesses as well as Ecovative’s Forager and Mushroom Packaging divisions, My Forest Foods, and My Bacon.

The substrate will be used by Forager to generate high performance foams and leather-like hides for the fashion and clothing industries, and by Mushroom Packaging to create composite materials that can replace plastic foam packaging.

Eben Bayer, CEO and co-founder of Ecovative, said that his company is dedicated to offering the greatest mycelium technology available worldwide. They’re collaborating closely with Lambert and the facility’s amazing staff of business experts to keep delivering the high-caliber goods that current customers have come to expect. This acquisition also puts their business in a better position to guarantee the best feedstock for a variety of new mycelium materials, giving them the capacity to provide their expanding worldwide network of clients and licensees as they grow over the ensuing years.

Scott McIntyre, executive vice president and co-owner of Lambert Spawn, said that they are proud of the state-of-the-art facility they built in Venlo, and the team they gathered to operate it. Since working together with Ecovative, it has become obvious that they are the perfect team with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage the facility and look after its clients while also opening up exciting new opportunities as Lambert continues to concentrate on serving and expanding its North American markets. They are pleased that Ecovative will bring this same focus to Lambert Spawn Europa in order to ensure everyone’s future success because the Lambert name was founded on quality and innovation.

The Netherlands plant now employs 17 people and has the capacity to increase greatly in the near future. It can produce about 20 million pounds of spawn and substrate annually.