Why we Invested in Fermify: Cracking continuous precision fermentation for vegan cheese proteins
Fermify is a biotech platform revolutionising the production of vegan cheese proteins.
Food producers have a high urgency to act due to volatile milk prices, broken supply chains (e.g. Russia has been an important milk ingredient producer) and increasing ethical concerns of customers. They are, however, missing the required biotech expertise.
Fermify’s platform provides a solution for in-house production of casein proteins, which is the missing piece to produce vegan cheeses that taste great and have the right meltability and structure.
Our friends at Übermorgen Ventures introduced us to Fermify and we were immediately impressed by the potential to be a remarkable alternative for vegan consumers and climate concerned cheese lovers. But what excited us even more was the fact that the team has unique biotech knowledge and IP that will enable them to go beyond cheese and fundamentally change other protein production for the better.
What is wrong with the cheese we consume today?
Dairy cheese has been identified as a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, with its environmental impact trailing only behind beef and lamb. Shockingly, this puts it ahead of other animal-based food products such as chicken, pork, and eggs.
In response to the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the planet, a plethora of plant-based alternatives have emerged in the past decade. However, while the market for alternative milks has grown to 20% in Europe, plant-based cheese remains a niche product with only 2% market share.
This is because existing alternatives have limited functionalities and sensory profiles, making them unappealing for consumers. Some also involve energy-intense drying steps and transportation needs that result in high costs and a heavy carbon footprint.
How is Fermify different?
- Breakthrough continuous precision fermentation technology. The casein produced through this process delivers animal-free cheese with standard protein content and the same organoleptic (read: yummy) experience.
- Market dominating economics: Their IP protected continuous bioprocess has the potential to deliver 50% cost reductions vs. conventional batch fermentation and deliver cost comparability with conventional cheese by 2027.
- Compelling B2B holistic platform model. Fermify works with food companies that lack biotech expertise, providing them with a holistic platform to set up a vegan business line from the ground up, including engineering services, biological strains, growth medium, and software.
- Potential to greatly curb methane emissions: A preliminary life-cycle analysis indicates that Fermify’s technology has the potential to reduce annual greenhouse gas emission by over half a million tons of CO2 equivalents in the next 10 years by reducing the need for millions of cows in milk production.
There’s no one we trust more than Eva Sommer and Christoph Herwig, the founders of Fermify, to disrupt the € ~200bn cheese market. Eva is a serial vegan food tech entrepreneur and her former Professor Christoph, a prominent thought leader in bioprocess engineering. Their team of 18 scientists have garnered the trust of more than 45 global customers (in the pipeline) and will start the first implementations at customer sites this year.
In the course of our due diligence process, we consulted with several technical experts who outlined the challenges associated with continuous precision fermentation and provided us with scientific articles highlighting the issues that need to be addressed. However, it turned out that Christoph was a co-author of all the articles, and was able to persuasively explain how Fermify has successfully overcome the hurdles.
We believe that Casein and cheese is only the start. Fermify has the potential to become a leading biotech player by developing continuous fermentation processes across various product categories, well beyond cheese and food.
“Cheesy” as it sounds, we’re excited to see the impact that Fermify’s technology will have on the world.
