[6] The company was founded by engineering PhDs Pasi Vainikka and Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, along with Sami Holmströmin, Jero Aholan, Jari Tuovisen, and Janne Mäkelän.

[7] By the spring of 2018, Solar Foods had collected a seed funding of 800,000 euros for the construction of a pilot production plant.The main investor was Lifeline Ventures; other investors included VTT Ventures and Green Campus Innovations, an investment company operating on LUT's campus.

Solar Foods started building a bioreactor tank where a kilogram of microbes can be produced daily.

[6] In March 2019, Solar Foods received funding of 50,000 euros from the Bank of Åland's Baltic Sea Project.

[9] In the same spring, Solar Foods launched its pilot plant, the output of which will be used to develop new products with partners.

[12] In April 2021, the Valtion Ilmastorahasto gave Solar Foods a loan of ten million euros for the new factory.

[17] The EU Commission granted IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) status to Solar Foods.

[18] In January 2023, it was reported that Solar Foods had received EUR 33.6 million in IPCEI funding from Business Finland for its hydrogen project.

This European Innovation Council-funded Hydrocow project aims to produce milk protein with Xanthobacter, carbon dioxide and electricity.

[22][23] In 2024, Solar Foods Oyj has listed its shares on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Finland.

[27] The bacterium was originally isolated from Baltic Sea shore sediment,[26] specifically from the Turku archipelago[disambiguation needed].

Despite his doubts over how beneficial the technology will be overall, Le Page stated that "the potential rewards are so immense that we should be pouring vast sums of money into finding out".