The UK’s first animal-free dairy company, Better Dairy, has announced the closure of £1.6m (approx. $2.1m USD) in seed funding. The London-based start-up makes products that are molecularly identical to traditional dairy without using animals as part of the production process.
This round was led by Happiness Capital and includes a number of other notable investors in the space including CPT Capital, Stray Dog Capital and Veg Capital along with a consortium of high profile angel investors. Better Dairy will use the funds from this investment round to accelerate its R&D efforts with the aim of commercializing its first products by early 2022.
According to the Good Food Institute, plant-based milk accounts for $1.8 billion in annual sales, and is the largest and most developed category within plant-based foods. The growth across different plant-based dairy categories including creamer, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, milk, and butter has significantly outpaced the growth of traditional dairy in each category. Better Dairy is relying on the fact that its technologies will allow its products to have the same flavors, textures and nutritional profile of traditional dairy products whilst also having the environmental and animal welfare benefits of plant based products.
The co-founders, Jevan Nagarajah (CEO) and Dr. Christopher Reynolds (CTO), both alumni of Imperial College London, went through the Entrepreneur First incubator program and this is where they received their initial pre-seed investment. Nagarajah has built a career in technology and over the past years has incubated and scaled companies across the UK and Europe, including experiences at Rocket Internet, SumUp, Ritual as well as his own previous food tech startup, ShareDining. Reynolds holds a PhD and a number of post doctorates across bioinformatics and synthetic biology, alongside a degree in natural sciences
spanning areas including chemistry and biochemistry.
“We’re hugely excited by what we’re building, and the promise that our technology has to radically improve dairy production,” said co-founder of Better Dairy, Jevan Nagarajah. “What is even more exciting for us are the high-quality investors that we have on board to help realize our vision, alongside the great advisors and team that we continue to attract to the company”.
“Innovation in the dairy category is sorely needed and Better Dairy is bringing that innovation with a process and products that will deliver great taste, texture, and nutritional content without the pollution, poor animal welfare, and waste of dairy milk.” said Lisa Feria, Stray Dog Capital’s CEO and Managing Director. Better Dairy is the most recent addition to Stray Dog Capital’s portfolio, which includes companies like Beyond Meat, Miyoko’s Creamery, Daring Foods, and Kite Hill.
Eric Ng, Managing Director at Happiness Capital adds:
“We are very excited by the positive impact that Better Dairy can have on the world. We were impressed by the team and the amount they’ve achieved in a short period of time and look forward to working with them in ushering in this new era for dairy”. Happiness Capital themselves boast a portfolio including investments in Green Monday, Mushlabs, BlueNalu and Beyond Meat (exited) and are the venture investment arm of LKK Health Products Group (a member of Lee Kum Kee Group, a global food company founded in 1888).
About Better Dairy
Better Dairy is a food manufacturing company based in London, UK. Established in January 2020, and led by co-founders Jevan Nagarajah (CEO) and Dr. Christopher Reynolds (CTO), Better Dairy seeks to produce “Better foods in better ways”, and is using advancements in technology to do so starting with the hugely unsustainable dairy market. https://betterdairy.co.uk
About Happiness Capital
Happiness Capital, a global venture capital firm based in Hong Kong, empowers entrepreneurs to co-create a happier world as a global community. Currently, its investment portfolio covers seed to growth stage companies in the US, Europe, Israel, and China, with a focus to make the world a happier place by creating global impacts on trust, food, health, climate change, and reduced inequalities. Happiness Capital is a member of LKK Health Products Group (a Lee Kum Kee Group company).
About Stray Dog Capital
Stray Dog Capital is a venture capital fund investing in innovative, early stage companies across the food, beverage, and biotechnology sectors that are driving a healthier, humane, and more sustainable future. Stray Dog Capital supports its portfolio of investments with broad experience from its team as entrepreneurs, operators, advisors, and investors. www.straydogcapital.com
