The new generation of cheese — why we invested in Stockeld Dreamery

Say C-H-E-E-S-E!

Did you know that cheese is the largest CO2e emitter within food, right after lamb and beef? Eating a serving of cheese, 3–5 times a week for a year, generates 200 kg of greenhouse gas emissions, and uses water equal to a regular family swimming pool and land the size of two tennis courts.

Consumer trends are shifting fast, and for the better. In the last year, nearly 1 in 4 Americans reported that they are eating less meat, citing health and climate as the main reasons. The impact of that is huge. By eating vegetarian food for a year, you could save the same amount of emissions as taking a small family car off the road for 6 months.

The dairy industry in total is responsible for 3.4% of global CO2 emissions, almost equaling the aviation and shipping industry combined! Around half of the produced milk is used for making cheese in the EU and the US.

While more and more consumers are informed of the impact their lifestyle choices have on the environment and are looking for sustainable alternatives, the data also shows that most are still not willing to do it at the expense of their taste buds. Habits die hard so in other words, it has to taste as good as the “real” thing. When it comes to cheese, the current alternatives are just not good enough.

Guess who solved that? Let us present our latest investment in Stockeld Dreamery! The Stockeld team has spent the last two years in the lab, trying, tasting and tweaking to come up with their first product — Stockeld Chunk. An alternative to feta cheese, based on peas and fava beans, 13% protein, and completely vegan — the best part? It tastes sooooo good.

But they are just at the very beginning of their change-the-world-of-dairy-journey. In early 2019, Sorosh Tavakoli and Anja Leissner, founded Stockeld Dreamery to challenge the status quo and reinvent the foods they love, starting with cheese. Sorosh comes with an amazing entrepreneurial background as he previously founded, ran and sold Videoplaza and his co-founder Anja is a dairy processing expert with background in food science, microbiology, biotechnology, sensory and nutrition.

Whether you are on your path to becoming vegan (hats off to you) or want to make a gradual shift to more sustainable alternatives, everything counts, so we hope that Stockeld Dreamery will be a staple on your grocery shopping list in the future!

A warm welcome to the Norrsken VC family!