Perfect Day is $140 million closer to bringing its dairy-free products to store shelves after raising millions in its latest round of funding as the global non-dairy milk market surges in value.
The company secured the multi-million dollar amount in the third round of funding led by Temasek, an investment company headquartered in Singapore, which brings the investment into Perfect Day to more than $200 million to date.
“In 2019, we showed that our manufacturing process works robustly at commercial scale,” said Ryan Pandya, CEO and Co-founder of Perfect Day. “We were able to demonstrate with our ice cream launch, which sold out in a single day, that flora-based protein delivers on the dairy experience, and that people are excited about what we’re doing.”
Past investors were also “substantially involved” in supporting the company’s growth as they “create a whole new category of animal-free food products.”
Since 2014, Perfect Day has been developing a method to produce nutritious protein by fermenting microflora, a term for microscopic plants like algae.
First, the company studied the basic makeup of milk, then used fermentation to convert sugar from the microflora into proteins such as whey and casein that are nutritionally identical to those coming from cow milk.
All it takes is human curiosity about what makes milk… well, milk… along with modern science and the age-old art of fermentation.
– Perfect Day
“Our goal has always been impact — to pave the way for a kinder, greener planet,” said Perumal Gandhi, Co-founder of Perfect Day. “The best way to achieve this will be to work with food companies that already purchase huge amounts of dairy ingredients. While our [busines-to-business] deals come to fruition, we are eager to share our progress with the world.”
The latest round of funding will help expand the company’s production capacity, according to the company. It will also help the company dig deeper into partner opportunities and extend its product portfolio, furthering its “commitment to bringing consumers the dairy products they know and love, completely animal-free.”
Back in July, Perfect Day launched a limited-edition ice cream that sold out within a day, according to the company.
“The launch was intended to demonstrate the potential of the protein and technology, and give consumers the opportunity to try it. Considering the success of that launch, ice cream is definitely a product that is viable for future partnerships and opportunities,” Pandya said.
The company expects its products to hit the market in 2020.
The global non-dairy milk market is expected to top $38 billion in revenue by 2024 propelled in part by a rising working middle-class population, rising income and changing lifestyle, according to a report published by Research and Markets.
