The world’s first commercial Fine Mycelium plant, MycoWorks’ grand South Carolina experiment, is shutting down barely a year after its launch. Built to prove that mushroom leather could rival cowhide, the 136 000-square-foot factory will soon stand quiet. The reversal is abrupt and symbolic: an industry once brimming with promise now watches its brightest flagship dim, undone not by science but by the hard economics of expensive capital, thinning investment, and the relentless pressure of scaling sustainability.
The announcement did not come through a traditional corporate channel but—surprisingly—via a LinkedIn post by Chief Executive Officer Matthew Scullin. In a letter addressed to employees, partners, and the wider industry, he announced that MycoWorks would close the plant and pivot from growing mycelium to processing it. “This was a tough but clear decision,” he wrote, calling it a logical evolution rather than a retreat. The informal setting amplified the shock: a multibillion-dollar industry learned of its biggest setback through a social-media scroll.
When the Union facility opened in September 2023, it was promoted as the world’s first commercial-scale Fine Mycelium plant and a template for industrialising bio-manufacturing. Automation covered about 80% of its operations: robots moved trays, data systems tracked growth, and quality controls were calibrated to deliver millions of square feet of material each year. More than a thousand sheets were harvested within months, and the first revenue shipments followed in early 2024.
That momentum has been undone by economics. Rising interest rates and a decline in US manufacturing sentiment pushed the cost of capital to levels that no young bio-manufacturer could sustain. The factory that symbolised confidence in American re-industrialisation is now a victim of the same pressures facing traditional manufacturers—high debt, delayed orders, and investors demanding profitability before scale.
MycoWorks will close the Union plant and redirect its focus to processing and finishing rather than growth. The shift moves the company from producer to processor, preserving its Rei-Tan technology while avoiding the overheads of running a dedicated factory. By using existing tanneries and contract suppliers, it reduces risk and expands reach without new construction. For investors, it transforms the business model from one that consumed capital to one that licenses it.
Scullin wrote: “This logical transition comes with the tough decision to close our plant in South Carolina. This plant was ambitious and pioneering; the team in South Carolina solved infections, yield loss, and the operational complexity of a brand-new biomanufacturing process. The result, however, proved to be too expensive for the world we currently live in. Whereas capital was abundant and cheap for innovators like MycoWorks just a couple of years ago, times have changed; amidst the backdrop of a slew of late-stage bio, food, ag, and alternative leather companies going under and seven straight months of decline in the United States ISM Manufacturing PMI, our factory in South Carolina now has a cost of capital that is too high to warrant, especially when cheaper sources of mycelium exist that can also be elevated with our Rei-Tan technology.”
The decision also changes the narrative for biomaterials. Fine Mycelium proved that a fungal network could be engineered into a luxury-grade sheet; its factory showed that bio-fabrication could run at industrial speed. Now the same case study demonstrates that scale alone is not security. What survives is the technology and a pragmatic recognition that success in sustainable materials depends less on owning machines than on learning how to use them efficiently—wherever they are.
