Grace Ashiru
UM6P Ventures, a venture capital firm based in the United States, has made an undisclosed investment in the South African startup De Novo Dairy. The money will be used to develop dairy alternatives that do not use animal products but offer the same sensory experience and nutrition as conventional dairy products.
De Novo Dairy is a company that makes milk proteins by carefully fermenting different yeast strains. With this technology, they can get important milk proteins without using animals. These proteins are used in many products that improve and boost human nutrition.
The startup goes after many different markets, such as food, health, sports, baby formula, and nutrition.
Unlike animal-based proteins, which could contain pathogens and aren’t the best fit for the human immune system Novo Dairy says that its alternative will be a cost-effective way to make high-quality proteins that don’t come from animals and will last.
Research indicates that precision fermentation has several benefits that have not been seen before. It also has a great safety profile, all of which have helped it gain popularity in the alternative dairy market. This method produces fewer emissions than animal farming and uses less energy to make proteins. It also eliminates worries about animal welfare, making it a good alternative.
Alternatives to dairy products have been increasingly popular worldwide in recent years due to the numerous health and environmental benefits they offer.
Ikram Labtaini, scientific development and operations lead at UM6P Ventures, said, “We are happy to add De Novo Dairy to our growing portfolio of Deeptech startups. We look forward to working with their talented management team and helping them while they improve the African food system.”
When asked about the investment, Jean Louwrens, CEO and Co-Founder of De Novo Dairy, said that UM6P Ventures shares De Novo Dairy’s goal of improving human nutrition while taking animals out of the food chain.
We’re also glad to have all the help we’re getting to speed up both R&D and scaling up, and we’re looking forward to reaching more milestones with you,” he said.
