Who Owns KaTech?

KaTech was founded in 2005 in Lübeck, Germany, as a privately held specialty ingredient company focused on developing advanced texture and stabilization solutions for food and beverage manufacturers. The company was established to address growing demand from European food producers for functional ingredients that could improve product texture, stability, mouthfeel, and shelf life without relying on traditional synthetic additives.

From its base in Lübeck, KaTech developed expertise across several technically demanding application areas: stabilization, texture enhancement, protein protection and enrichment, mouthfeel improvement, and emulsification. The company built a reputation among European food and beverage manufacturers for technical depth and application-specific formulation support, differentiating itself from larger commodity ingredient suppliers through specialized expertise and customer collaboration.

Throughout the 2010s, KaTech expanded its customer base across European food and beverage categories, including dairy, bakery, meat, and plant-based products. The company's focus on label-friendly solutions aligned with the growing consumer preference for shorter ingredient lists and recognizable components, positioning KaTech favorably as clean-label trends accelerated across European food markets.

By the late 2010s, KaTech had established itself as a recognized specialist in European food texture and stabilization, attracting the attention of larger ingredient companies seeking to build out their specialty portfolios. Ingredion, which had been executing a multi-year strategy to shift its revenue mix toward higher-margin specialty ingredients, identified KaTech as a complementary acquisition target.

In April 2021, Ingredion Incorporated announced and completed the acquisition of KaTech. The deal was described by Ingredion as expanding its Food Systems platform with stabilizing and texturizing solutions, broadening its customer base in Europe, and bringing label-friendly ingredients that aligned with consumer trends. The acquisition price was not publicly disclosed. Following the acquisition, KaTech continued to operate from Lübeck under its established brand identity, maintaining its focus on European food and beverage customers while gaining access to Ingredion's global distribution network and customer relationships.

The KaTech acquisition was part of Ingredion's broader specialty ingredient acquisition strategy, which had previously included Penford (2015), Kerr Concentrates (2015), TIC Gums (2016), and PureCircle (2020). Each acquisition added a specific technical capability or geographic presence to Ingredion's specialty portfolio.