New Culture, a startup producing plant-based cheese, has raised USD 25 million in Series A funding co-led by Ahren Innovation Capital and CPT Capital, including other investors such as ADM Ventures, Be8 Ventures, Kraft Heinz’s venture capital arm, Evolv, SOSV, and S2G Ventures. The startup expects to use the funds to expand its team and scale up production ahead of its planned plant-based mozzarella cheese launch in pizzerias by 2022. 

Founded in 2018, New Culture has been able to replicate the casein protein using precision fermentation technology; the protein is the key element that gives the cheesiness and the melt of the conventional animal-derived cheeses. The startup blends the produced casein with water, plant-based fats such as coconut oil, sunflower oil, and canola oil, and other vitamins and minerals to make plant-based mozzarella of the same taste, texture, functions (such as melting, stretching, browning etc) and nutritional value as the animal-sourced mozzarella.