Why I’m Going All-In With Stockeld Dreamery
I couldn’t be more excited about my next professional adventure, joining Sorosh and Anja as Head of Strategy and Special Projects for Stockeld Dreamery. Here’s why.
From mid-2017 onwards, I’ve worked as a consultant to the The Rockefeller Foundation Food Team. I also became a mentor to various accelerators and VC firms, as well as about 10 startups led by fantastic entrepreneurs in Europe, North America and Africa — all in the foodtech space.
One of these entrepreneurs was Sorosh Tavakoli. When we first met, he was exploring microalgae as an entry point into improving the food system. He then did a serious deep-dive into duckweed, before starting foodtech company Stockeld Dreamery in 2019 together with the fantastic food scientist Anja Leissner. I eventually became a formal advisor to Stockeld later that year, and in early 2020, the company raised $3.6M from some very strong VCs, e.g. Inventure (Wolt), Northzone (iZettle, Klarna), Astanor (Ynsect, Apeel Sciences, Infarm etc), and Creandum (Spotify), to mention a few.
Stockeld aims to develop the world’s most ambitious cheese…without milk.
Stockeld means campfire in old Swedish. It’s the place where humans meet nature. The place where we come together, to hang out, get cozy, cook and eat uncomplicated food. This place is so inherent to us humans that it has been enjoyed across all cultures and civilisations. It’s a natural place and yet so magical. The campfire represents how we consider food: simple, inclusive, delicious and full of joy.
When I recently left the Rockefeller Foundation, I knew I wanted to continue to help transform our food systems to make them more nourishing, sustainable, and equitable.
Sometimes, the stars align. Sorosh approached me and offered me to join as Head of Strategy and Special Projects at Stockeld. For those of you who don’t know Sorosh, he’s one-of-a-kind. Energetic, mission-driven, strategic, and, visionary. A thinker, and a doer. Someone who’s just fun and inspiring to work with. And his co-founder Anja is just as mission-driven and fun, someone you want to hang around just to absorb her insights— plus that she’s a brilliant food scientist.
So the decision to join Sorosh, Anja, and Stockeld wasn’t hard. The timing just felt magical.
Why cheese?
We all know food systems are not delivering what most people expect, or need. Poor diets are today the leading global cause of disease, disability and premature death, and the food system accounts for major environmental impacts, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, water use, land use, and so on.
OK, but what does cheese has to with any of this? Most people love cheese (it’s a $70B+ global market), but don’t realize cheese production has significant negative environmental impacts. The 13 largest dairy companies in the world emit as much greenhouse gases as the entire U.K (Wired UK, quoting Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 2020). The average greenhouse gas impact of cheese production, 5.1 kg of CO2 per 100g of protein, is higher than that of both pork (4.6kg) and poultry (2.1kg) (Science, 2018).
While there’s some great plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy (helping millions of consumers shift away from animal-sourced foods), we haven’t yet seen those amazing products emerge for alternatives to fish, egg, and cheese. Frankly, most plant-based cheese products are pretty bad, and the ambition is lacking.
Stockeld aims to become the category leader in plant-based cheese. The company is assembling a world-class team to develop a cheese that is superior in taste and nutrition, resource-efficient, affordable and accessible to all, yet preferred by top chefs and restaurants. Simply put: The world’s most ambitious cheese.
The first product, a plant-based feta, will launch this spring. It has very few, naturally processed (fermented) ingredients. Consumer tastings have been really encouraging. I think this could be a net positive for the food system.
Sorosh sold his last company Videoplaza for $75M. This time, the goal isn’t to make an exit, but to build a company to last.
Change doesn’t just happen. The future is shaped by highly-motivated people who want something very much. Sorosh is one of them; Anja is another. Together, they’re building a growing team of like-minded people. I’m thrilled to be a part of this journey.
