STARTUP NEW CULTURE RAISES $25 MILLION TO MAKE VEGAN CHEESE
San Francisco-based startup New Culture just brought $25 million up in a Series A investment round to assist with offering its revolutionary animal-free vegan cheese for sale to the public.
The startup utilizes microbial aging to make animal-free caseins—the proteins that give animal-based cheese its unmistakable characteristics—that it then, at that point, transforms into vegan dairy products that copy the genuine thing.
Established by Matt Gibson a specialist in genetics and microbiology and Inja Radman a synthetic biologist, New Culture’s main goal is to alter the vegan cheese industry by making cheese with a similar stretch.
New Culture has held tasting occasions for industry specialists at pizza shops to show the dairy-indistinguishable nature of its animal-free mozzarella cheese.
“What New Culture has accomplished in a short period of time through their several pizza tastings reinforces their market-leading position in developing animal-free casein,” Steve Sanger, General Partner at Evolv Ventures (one of the brand’s investors [ and New Culture Board Member], said in a statement. “
Their focus on using that casein to produce animal-free cheese will allow consumers to enjoy everything they love about cheese (taste, melt, stretch, browning) without having to compromise, all while helping to make the world more sustainable.”
The startup will utilize the $25 million in new financing to change into a business venture fully intent on dispatching at select pizza joints in 2022.
Cow Cheese Without The Cow
To make animal-free casein, New Culture embeds DNA arrangements into microorganisms that educate them to communicate the objective proteins (alpha caseins, kappa caseins, and beta caseins).
These are formed into casein micelles, or clusters of casein proteins, just like animal-based casein.
New Culture houses its microorganisms in maturation tanks, feeds them sugar, and afterward gathers the casein they produce to make cheese.
They Harness The Wonders Of Fermentation
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During the aging process, the corporation has been able to harness the power of microorganisms to turn one food source into another, such as milk into cheese, including its creative mozzarella.
While plant-based cheeses commonly have a liquefying point that is pushed to the limit in home stoves, New Culture’s animal-free mozzarella cheese continues to brown and melt in professional pizza ovens.
“We’ve been intrigued by the advancement the group at New Culture has made in applying inventive science-based ways to deal with making great quality animal-free cheese,” Alice Newcombe-Ellis, Founding and General Partner of Ahren Innovation Capital which co-led the round, said in a statement.
“Ahren looks forward to supporting New Culture to bring its products to market in order to contribute to a more environmentally sustainable future.”
New Culture is a part of developing number of new companies that utilize microbial fermentation to create animal-free alternatives to dairy products.
The greatest player in the field is Perfect Day, which has raised more than $750 million in financing to date and uses a comparative process to create its animal-free whey.
While Perfect Day is centered around providing different corporations with its innovative protein so they can make vegan products such as gelato and baked goods, the company also operates a consumer products arm.
The Urgent Company, under which it has delivered frozen yogurt and pastry brands Brave Robot and Modern Kitchen.
This month, food “monster” General Mills delivered Bold Cultr, its first vegan cheese line. General Mills utilized Perfect Day’s animal-free whey to develop its vegan cheese, which is at first accessible in a plain cream cheese format with two additional flavors.