California-based Perfect Day, the “unicorn” alt-dairy company valued at US$1.5 billion, has announced the opening of a 60,000 square foot plant (about 5,500 square meters) in Utah, US.

 The new Salt Lake City hub location will propel the company which is making waves in the alternative dairy space.

“Having evolved into a dynamic campus for life sciences companies to grow and innovate, Perfect Day is a valuable partner supporting our initiatives to grow the city’s biotech and life sciences ecosystem,” says Salt Lake City mayor Eric Mendenhall. 

In 2020, Perfect Day received the most significant venture capital fundraising round in the fermentation industry history, landing US$300 million in series C funding. 

In 2020, Perfect Day received the most significant venture capital fundraising round in the fermentation industry history, landing US$300 million in series C funding (Credits: Perfect Day).The Gateway hub
Perfect Day’s second base will be set in the Gateway’s BioHive center. This is an incubator for life sciences that is already home to many different enterprises. 

The Gateway’s community of life science tenants already has over 200,000 sq ft currently leased (over three times the space of Perfect Days new plant).

“This new US location will accelerate Perfect Day’s ability to scale its Enterprise Biology business unit, delivering scale-up production, IP licensing, strain services and other offerings to a diverse range of biotechnology, biopharmaceutical and life science customers,” according to Perfect Day.

“This second US base will expand and diversify our technology capabilities, allowing us to accelerate our impact and business reach with the addition of new infrastructure, resources and connection to the vitality of the biotech talent growing in the Salt Lake City community,” said TM Narayan, Perfect Day’s chief business operations.

The whey of Perfect Day
California Performance CO., a partner of Perfect Day, introduced the world’s first non-animal whey protein to the US, Hong Kong and Singapore earlier this year. 

To produce natural milk protein, Perfect Day’s team teaches tiny organisms, or “microflora” to create the milk protein by giving the digital version of the milk-making genetic blueprint of a cow to the flora.

An ISO compliant, third-party reviewed life cycle assessment (LCA) found that Perfect Day’s whey protein reduces blue water consumption by up to 99%, greenhouse gas emissions by up to 97% and non-renewable energy use by up to 60%, compared to conventional production methods, according to Perfect Day.

Perfect Day is also expanding in India with a liquidation buy-off of Mumbai-based Sterling Biotech, acquiring two manufacturing plants in Gujarat and another in Tamil Nadu, aiming to reduce production costs and expand into the attractive Asia-Pacific market. 

Plant-based meat, seafood, egg and dairy companies secured US$1.9 billion in investments in 2021, according to the Good Food Institute.

Meanwhile, fermentation-based protein companies secured US$1.7 billion in investments in 2021.