The 'holy grail' of alternative dairy: announcing our investment in Nutropy

The dairy cheese industry presents a massive challenge for decarbonisation. Per kilogram, cheese is among the most emissions-intensive foods we consume, generating nearly 24 kg of CO2eq. Given the high production volumes, cheese's carbon footprint is second only to beef and lamb with total greenhouse gas emissions of 640 MtCO2eq today, projected to increase as demand grows.

Source: Our World in Data

For years, consumers seeking low-carbon options have been let down. Plant-based cheeses have failed to capture the market, holding just a 1% share, because they simply can't replicate the taste, texture, and nutrition of the dairy cheeses that we know and love.

The secret? Caseins. These milk proteins are responsible for virtually everything that makes cheese, cheese — its texture, stretch, and flavour.

Even in the advanced field of precision fermentation, this remains the "holy grail". Most companies focus on whey proteins, which are simpler to produce but cannot be used for the ~80% of cheeses that are hard or gooey. The few companies attempting to make caseins have struggled with the final, critical step: forming them into casein micelles. These complex, multi-protein structures are essential for turning milk into cheese. Without them, the proteins won't gel properly, and the product fails.

This is why we are so excited to announce our investment in Nutropy.

Nutropy founders: Nathalie (CEO) and Maya (CTO)

Nutropy is a French foodtech company that has cracked the code. They use precision fermentation to produce casein proteins from microorganisms. But their true breakthrough is their proprietary "micellisation" process—reconstituting caseins to create functional casein micelles that behave exactly like their animal-derived counterparts.

The result is a B2B 'cheeseable milk', a powdered 'plug and play' solution to act as dairy milk in cheese manufacturing. Nutropy's cheeseable milk empowers the dairy industry to produce sustainable, animal-free cheese that is as good as the original.

Nutropy's technology isn't just a scientific breakthrough; it's also a commercial one. While others are struggling with yield and cost, Nutropy is the only company we've seen with a clear, cost-competitive route to producing these functionalised caseins at or below the price of animal milk.

We are thrilled to be able to officially announce our investment in Nutropy's oversubscribed seed round. We co-led the round with Big Pi Ventures and were joined by Big Idea Ventures, Beta Lab, Wyngate Inc., Desai Ventures, PVS Investments, as well as the Swedish food company Axel Johnson through its investment arm Novax, and other pre-seed investors. Nutropy raised a €7 million seed round, including public funding, to scale their game-changing technology.

Nutropy's exceptional team is led by co-founders Nathalie Rolland (CEO) and Dr. Maya Bendifallah (CSO). This pioneering team combines expertise in the alternative protein market, food science, precision fermentation, and recombinant protein biochemistry. They've assembled a world-class R&D team with rare, specific experience in casein production and functionalisation, and formulation of casein-containing ingredients.

We are convinced that Nutropy is poised to be a huge success and make a gigaton-scale impact whilst bringing the world one of its favourite products: guilt-free cheese without the comprise!