Israeli startup Imagindairy, which is growing animal-free milk proteins utilizing fermentation know-how, has introduced that it has raised $15 million in an prolonged seed spherical, bringing the overall quantity raised within the spherical to $28 million after the corporate raised $13 million final November. Imagindairy started within the laboratory of Prof. Tamir Tuller and Dr. Eyal Afergan at Tel Aviv College, with the purpose of cultivating microorganisms and utilizing them to provide a brand new milk similar in style, shade, and consistency to cow’s milk, with out environmental harm or damaging well being values. The final word purpose is that the corporate’s merchandise might be used within the dairy business as a substitute for animal proteins.
The present spherical was led by Goal International, with participation by the corporate’s current buyers Strauss Group, Emerald Know-how Ventures, Inexperienced Circle Foodtech Ventures, Collaborative Fund, New Local weather Ventures, and FoodSparks by PeakBridge. The corporate says that the capital raised “might be used to speed up the corporate’s R&D efforts to launch a variety of actual dairy merchandise with out utilizing animals. It additionally will assist appeal to extra expertise to its increasing workforce.” It provides that it’s working intensively with meals producers on the event of recent merchandise.
The corporate is at the moment on the stage of ramping up its manufacturing capability, and it plans to launch a primary product in 2023. Afergan says that the present funding will assist the corporate attempt in direction of manufacturing on a industrial scale and “fully change the present guidelines of the sport, wherein the worldwide dairy business, which turns over a whole bunch of billions of {dollars} a yr, is chargeable for huge environmental harm to planet earth. Our resolution opens up a brand new world of potentialities based mostly on extremely practical, prime quality protein.”
The milk alternate options market has been rising steadily in recent times, and turns over NIS 426 million a yr in Israel, accounting for 16% of the milk market. The milk alternate options market is led by Tnuva, with a 57% market share.
Strauss Group’s funding in Imagindairy is a part of its effort to turn out to be stronger within the milk alternate options space. Final yr, it introduced that it might construct a manufacturing facility at Ahihud within the Western Galilee to provide milk alternate options of European big Alpro, whose merchandise Strauss sells in Israel.
Imagindairy is specializing in uncooked supplies for the non-animal based mostly cheese business, which up to now has not developed as a lot as milk alternate options. An identical Israeli startup on this subject is Remilk, which not too long ago raised $120 million and plans to open a manufacturing facility in Denmark to provide milk proteins. There may be additionally a US startup known as Excellent Day, the one one on the planet that has up to now succeeded in penetrating the markets with milk protein alternate options produced by fermentation. Israel is taken into account a world chief in fermentation. In keeping with analysis institute GFI, startups on this subject in Israel raised more cash in 2022 than in some other nation aside from the US.
Revealed by Globes, Israel enterprise information – en.globes.co.il – on Might 19, 2022.
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