Austrian biotech Fermify raises €5M to produce animal-free cheese

The Vienna-based startup Fermify that provides a solution for in-house production of casein proteins has raised €5 million in a seed round. The funding will help to accelerate its growth in the animal-free food transition. Climentum Capital led the round.

• Founded in 2021 by Eva Sommer and Christoph Herwig, Fermify develops a fully automated platform to produce precision fermentation-derived casein proteins to make animal-free cheese at scale. The startup claims that its vegan cheese tastes great and has the right melt-ability and structure. 
• To date, its solution can reduce 50% cost as compared to conventional batch fermentation and delivers cost comparability with conventional cheese by 2027. Fermify has over 45 prospective customers across the globe.
• Climentum Capital is the leading investor in the round. The firm is based in Copenhagen, Berlin, and Stockholm and targets late seed and Series A investments into the six sectors that demonstrate the largest CO2 reduction potential.

“Our friends at Übermorgen Ventures introduced us to Fermify, and we were immediately impressed by the potential to be a remarkable alternative for vegan consumers and climate concerned cheese lovers. But what excited us even more was the fact that the team has unique biotech knowledge and IP that will enable them to go beyond cheese and fundamentally change other protein production for the better,”

Climentum Capital commented the recent round. 

• Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, Fund F by Female Founders, Übermorgen Ventures, BackBone Ventures, Simon Capital, Satgana, Triple Impact Ventures, PUSH Ventures also joined the investment. 
• Fermify’s team will use the fresh funds to accelerate the optimization and full digitalization of the bioprocess, as well as allow for team expansion to meet the global demand for its revolutionary animal-free production system.