Nutropy, a Paris-based startup that aims to produce dairy products sustainably, has raised €2M in a pre-seed round led by Beast, Big Idea Ventures (itself supported by Bel Group, AAK, and others), and Trellis Road. It is one of the greentech startups that are solving environmental problems with their sustainable solutions.
Other investors include VegCapital, FoodHack, Techmind, and a few international business angels with experience in technology, food technology, agriculture, and the French government, participated.
The French company will use the funds to launch its first industrial production of animal-free premium cheese within the next 24 months.
Animal-free cheese
Founded by Nathalie Rolland and Dr. Maya Bendifallah, Nutropy has developed a new technology that gives animal-free cheese products the texture and creaminess that people crave in cheese.
“As cheese lovers, we know the importance of cheese in our gastronomic culture and want to offer consumers a wide range of cheeses free of lactose and dietary cholesterol that are produced in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner”, says Nathalie Rolland,
CEO of Nutropy.
Nutropy’s process has the potential to use significantly fewer natural resources and limit the greenhouse gases and water pollution accompanying animal-produced dairy products.
This is made possible by a protein called casein, the first milk protein Nutropy produces through its technology. The company leverages innovative precision fermentation technology and ancestral savoir-faire to create distinct animal-free dairy products with a French touch.
Nutropy is also developing dairy fatty acids and has carefully selected cheese cultures to produce real cheese flavors.
“Beast is super excited to partner with Nutropy on bringing premium animal-free cheese to the world. We are particularly impressed with Nathalie and Maya’s innovative vision for scaling fermentation processes and their dedication to producing innovative, impactful products. We are proud to welcome them to the growing Beast family of climate deeptech companies”, says Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, founder and managing partner at Beast.
“We’ve long been convinced of the critical role of casein in the shift away from animal cheese products. After speaking to the majority of casein startups globally, we decided to invest in Nutropy as we were very impressed with the team’s technical ability and the milestones achieved in such a short period”, said Anna Ottosson, founding partner at Trellis Road.
“We are excited about Nutropy’s technology and the quality of the products the team has been able to produce. At one of our events, I tried their premium cheese, and the texture and taste were indistinguishable from premium, animal-based cheese. Using bio-identical ingredients is a game changer,” says Andrew D. Ive, Founder and Managing General Partner of Big Idea Ventures.
