Imagindairy, a foodtech which creates milk proteins, has announced the completion of a $13m seed round. The funding was led by MoreVC, a seed stage investor in Israel, and joined by Strauss Group, Entrée Capital, S2G Ventures; Collaborative Fund, New Climate Ventures, Green Circle Foodtech Ventures; Emerald Technology Ventures and Pierre Besnainou. 

Through natural precision fermentation, the company claims it is able to create milk proteins which are indistinguishable from the real thing. Its proprietary technology, based on a systems and synthetic biology platform, is aimed to help manufacturers produce cow-free, sustainable milk and dairy products with the nutritional values of dairy milk. 

The selec microorganisms the company uses to produce its proteins are up to 20 times more efficient than cows at converting feed into food, it claims. This offers food system resilience, allows for complete sustainability, preserves the natural ecosystem, and promotes animal welfare. It also eliminates the greenhouse gas emissions produced by dairy cows. 

“We are excited to share this news with our partners and colleagues,” said Eyal Afergan, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Imagindairy. “The market is eager to develop new dairy analogs based on our animal-free proteins. once we reach commercialisation, more consumers will be able to enjoy eating animal-free dairy products. It’s hard for people to make big changes, especially when it comes to the foods they enjoy, but when there’s an alternative with the same flavour and experience that is more aligned to their values, it becomes easy.” 

Imagindairy is currently collaborating with dairy companies, offering a range of dairy-free proteins. “Imagindairy’s innovative technology allows dairy companies to develop new products or reformulate existing products, without involving animals and with a dramatic reduction in carbon-footprint,” said Glen Schwaber, MoreVC partner. 

The company’s technology is based on 15 years of research led by its co-founder and CSO, Tamir Tuller, PhD, a professor at Tel Aviv University. It will invest the funds in expanding its facilities, increasing its professional team, and boosting its R&D capacity to meet the demands of its partners. 

“We evaluated Imagindairy’s proprietary, deep-tech platform and immediately recognised its huge potential,” explains Eran Bielski, General Partner at Entrée Capital. “Imagindairy successfully addresses the biggest limitation of precision fermentation technology—cost effective animal-free milk protein production.”