Imagindairy, a FoodTech company specializing in the creation of cow-like milk proteins, announced it has completed a $13 million seed cycle. The funding is led by MoreVC, a leading investor in Israel, managing $275 million across three funds.
Participating in this round are Strauss Group, Entrée Capital, S2G Ventures; Partnership Fund, New Climate Ventures, Green Circle Food Technology Ventures; Emerald Technology Ventures and Pierre Besnainou. The round includes a pre-seed investment by Strauss Group, PeakBridge’s FoodSparks, CPT Capital, and Entrée Capital earlier this year.
Imagindairy deals with new technology to keep cows out of the lactation equation. Through precise natural fermentation, the company creates real milk proteins that are indistinguishable from the real thing. The company’s proprietary technology, based on systematic biology and synthesis, enables manufacturers to provide sustainable and non-cow milk and dairy products with all the nutritional values. nutrition of cow’s milk.
Eyal Afergan, co-founder and CEO, Imagindairy, said, “We are excited to share this news with our partners and colleagues. 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.”
The company is currently collaborating with leading dairy companies, offering a complete range of dairy-free proteins.
Glen Schwaber, the MoreVC partner, said, “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. They have the technology to produce the dairy products of the future that consumers want today. We are incredibly impressed with the expert team and their strong R&D and scale-up capabilities—we’re proud to lead this investment round. ”
The company’s technology is based on 15 years of research led by its co-founder and CSO, Tamir Tuller, a professor at Tel Aviv University. The company’s mission was to create a commercially viable, guilt-free experience of traditional dairy products consumers crave. The company 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.
Eran Bielski, the general partner at Entrée Capital, said, “We evaluated Imagindairy’s proprietary, deep-tech platform and immediately recognized its huge potential. Imagindairy successfully addresses the biggest limitation of precision fermentation technology—cost-effective animal-free milk protein production.”
Imagindairy feeds microorganisms instead of cows, and the select microorganisms the company employs 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. The result: highly functional milk proteins that taste great and have the same texture, flavor, and nutritional value as milk from cows.
Eyal Shimoni, CTO for Strauss Group, 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. We at Strauss group, one of the leading dairy companies in Israel, identified the potential in this start-up in the early stages and have confidence in its managers to help lead the alt-protein revolution toward a better, more sustainable future.”