In a year marked by significant funding rounds for alternative proteins, it’s no surprise that Perfect Day has secured an amount that ranks among the largest single raises for any company in this sector this year. Renowned as a pioneer in non-animal dairy proteins, Perfect Day is celebrated for the potential of its ingredients to transform the origins of dairy proteins. The company employs precision fermentation to create its dairy proteins, a method that involves programming microbes to produce proteins typically derived from animals within fermentation tanks. “When we first embarked on this journey nearly eight years ago, our primary aim was to devise a method for producing dairy without using animals,” said Pandya in a statement. “We soon recognized that we could amplify our positive influence on the planet and the global food system by leveraging our technology and expertise throughout the supply chain.”
Perfect Day has made strides toward that objective by increasing the availability of its products. The Brave Robot ice cream brand, part of The Urgent Company, is now found in 5,000 grocery stores nationwide. Additionally, various ice cream lines from Smitten, Graeter’s, and Nick’s utilize the company’s animal-free dairy. By introducing cream cheese into its product range, Perfect Day enhances its presence in another grocery section and meal occasion. While Modern Kitchen is not a direct product of Perfect Day, its packaging will feature the company’s logo and information to educate consumers about the source of its proteins, which includes the beneficial calcium citrate at 333mg.
Furthermore, Perfect Day has initiated a program aimed at assisting other companies within the tech sector. Last summer, the company quietly assumed ownership and operational control of Utah State University’s Synthetic Biomanufacturing Facility (SBF), located on the university’s Innovation Campus in Logan, Utah. The maker of animal-free dairy is utilizing this facility and its expertise to branch into “enterprise biology,” a term it uses to describe its development services aimed at helping startups scale their technologies. The company has reported a strong lineup of collaborators at SBF, which is already proving to be a profitable venture.
These funding rounds underscore the substantial financial resources available to investors eager to support alternative proteins and food technology. In 2020 alone, seven alternative protein companies secured funding exceeding $100 million. Nature’s Fynd, a fermented protein firm, matched Perfect Day for the largest single funding this year, successfully closing a $350 million round in July. Earlier this year, Eat Just raised a total of $467 million, which included $200 million for its plant-based foods division and $267 million for its Good Meat cell-based chicken segment. The LiveKindly Collective, an international platform for alternative protein brands, raised $335 million in March. NotCo, which utilizes artificial intelligence to replicate animal proteins with plant-based alternatives, garnered $235 million in July. Additionally, Motif FoodWorks, focused on plant-based ingredients, announced a $226 million funding round in June, and Israeli cell-based meat company Aleph Farms raised $105 million in July with aspirations to bring products to consumers next year.