Israeli animal-free dairy company Imagindairy today announced the completion of a $13 million seed round led by MoreVC, with the participation of Strauss Group, Entrée Capital, S2G Ventures, Collaborative Fund, New Climate Ventures, Green Circle Foodtech Ventures, Emerald Technology Ventures and Pierre Besnainou. This round includes a pre-seed investment by Strauss Group and Entrée Capital earlier this year.
Imagindairy is developing new technology to leave the cow out of the dairy equation by creating milk proteins identical to those from cows. With natural precision fermentation, the company creates milk proteins that it claims are indistinguishable from the real thing. Imagindairy’s proprietary technology is based on a systems and synthetic biology platform, allows manufacturers to offer cow-free, sustainable milk and dairy products with all the nutritional values of dairy milk.
The company was founded by CEO Dr. Eyal Afergan and CSO Dr. Tamir Tuller.
Dr. Afergan said, "The market is eager to develop new dairy analogs based on our animal-free proteins. Once we reach commercialization, 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 flavor and experience that is more aligned to their values, it becomes easy."
Imagindairy is cooperating with leading dairy companies to offer a complete range of dairy-free proteins.
The company's technology is based on 15 years of research led by Dr. Tuller, a professor at Tel Aviv University.
Imagindairy feeds microorganisms instead of cows, and claims that it selects microorganisms that are up to 20 times more efficient than cows at converting feed into food. 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 and results in highly functional milk proteins that taste great and have the same texture, flavor, and nutritional value as milk from cows.
Strauss Group CTO Eyal Shimoni said, "Imagindairy ticks all the right boxes. This is innovative technology that can help solve world hunger in our growing population; it’s a solution that is green and animal-free."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 17, 2021.
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