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GLOBAL FOOD GIANT DANONE INVESTS IN ANIMAL-FREE DAIRY STARTUP
May 1, 2023
by Elaine Watson, AgFunder.com
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| Imaginedairy co-founder Dr. Eyal Afergan |
Danone's corporate venture arm Danone Manifesto Ventures has taken a minority stake in Imagindairy, an Israeli startup making 'animal-free' dairy proteins via precision fermentation (using microbes instead of cows).
While Danone is heavily invested in plant-based dairy through brands such as Silk, Alpro and So Delicious, this is its first move into the animal-free dairy space, whereby firms engineer fungi or yeast to make dairy proteins such as whey and casein.
A spokesperson at Danone Manifesto Ventures told AFN: "We are thrilled to partner with Imagindairy as a minority investor to help accelerate the company's growth... Given its strong research-driven approach, we believe Imagindairy has the power to be a successful company in this emerging space. We look forward to developing strategic collaboration projects with Imagindairy to learn more about this pioneering space."
Imagindairy said Danone would bring "strategic and operational support to accelerate our growth" adding that the partnership would "pave the way to future collaborations with Danone, as we explore potential business applications together."
Founded in 2020 by Dr Arie Abo (CTO) and Dr. Eyal Afergan (CEO), Imagindairy has raised $28 million to date. It first plans to bring beta-lactoglobulin (whey protein) to the US market but is also working on a range of other milk proteins including casein proteins and alpha lactalbumin, Dr. Afergan told AFN.
The plan is to scale up with contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) before building his own facility, he said: "We are working today with CMOs to manufacture our beta-lactoglobulin and we will build our own facility when the timing is right. Since our processes are very efficient, we can reach cost-effectiveness with CMOs as well, but having our own facility will have multiple benefits, including more flexibility and control over the entire supply chain."
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