The growing food tech revolution continues with news that French startup Standing Ovation has secured €12 million ($12 million) in series funding to develop animal-free casein for use in cheese.
Casein, for the uninitiated, is a protein found in dairy products and makes up 80% of cow’s milk – which is what gives the milk its white appearance. The Vegan Cheese Market Despite being a $2.5 billion industry by 2021, most people agree that it is not enough to scratch the surface of its milk-based counterpart, and the lack of casein is the main reason for this – except for color, casein. It is responsible for ingredients such as mozzarella’s unique elasticity, aroma, and also for the physical “function” in cheese.
In the year Founded in Paris in 2020, Stand Ovation essentially replicates casein in the lab, and achieves this through a “precision fermentation” process to recreate the main ingredient in non-animal lactose-free dairy products. In the end, it’s all about reducing our trust in animals and trying to save the planet – a problem of gargantuan proportions.
“Casein is a holy grail for producing alternatives that match conventional products in nutrition, taste and texture, but has been very difficult to create,” said Eric Arcambeau, founder of Astanor Ventures, who led the Standing Ovens investment, in a statement. .
Vegan friendly
Standing Ovation is far from the only company working on this problem—investors are salivating over businesses like Israel’s Remilk and San Francisco-based New Culture. And more broadly, food tech startups are working on all kinds of synthetic protein alternatives, with lab-grown meat and seafood closer to consumer markets. And then there are companies like Cultivated Biosciences, using exciting new methods to create vegan-friendly foods that have the same creaminess and “mouth feel” as real dairy products.
The vegan food market was a $27 billion industry last year, so it’s clear why investors are lining up behind these companies. And in fact there are now VC funds dedicated to food tech startups, with France-based Five Seasons Ventures and London-based Synthesis Capital raising nearly $500 million between them last year.
With $12 million from Asthanor Ventures, PickBridge, Seventeen Partners, Big Idea Ventures, Good Start, and an unknown “major player” in the food industry, Standing Ovation now has good funding to develop animal- and lactose-free substitutes. Cheese and other dairy products. Of course, product development and R&D are just some of the hurdles that Constant Ovation and its industry partners have to face – they also have to go through strict regulatory processes in the markets they want to serve their products to.
“Standing Ovation’s technology has great potential, but bringing the products to market quickly required significant resources, and significant funding was necessary,” said CEO Frederic Pakis.
