\n<\/p>\n
Lyon, France-based precision fermentation startup Bon Vivant<\/a>, which is using biotech techniques to reprogram yeast microorganisms to produce animal-free milk proteins with a substantially lower environmental footprint than traditional dairy, credits clarity of strategy and execution for keeping its investors enthused at a time when raising remains a challenge for many tech founders.<\/p>\n All the investors in its April 2022 pre-seed (\u20ac4M) followed on for the oversubscribed \u20ac15M (~$15.9M) seed it\u2019s announcing today, according to CEO and co-founder, St\u00e9phane MacMillan. The round is co-led by Sofinnova Partners and Sparkfood, with Captech Sant\u00e9 also participating. Other investors in Bon Vivant include Alliance for Impact, High Flyers Capital, Kima Ventures, Founders Future and Picus Capital.<\/p>\n MacMillan points to a decision he and his co-founder, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Briand, made to focus exclusively on a b2b business model \u2014 meaning the novel protein startup is aiming to be a supplier for, not competitor to, the food industry \u2014 as something investors have especially appreciated.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the beginning we\u2019re focused \u2014 b2b oriented. And in Europe, in particular, almost all [competitors] are still b2c, b2b2c; [or have an] unclear strategy. That\u2019s a big differentiator,\u201d he tells TechCrunch. \u201cI think that explains why, in only 19 months, we\u2019ve attracted investors \u2014 because since the beginning we have a strategy that is clear and that we are executing on which helps a lot, obviously. Because there\u2019s clarity. Then the team is structured this way. The processes are put in place\u2026 So that\u2019s, I think, one of the key decisions why also we attracted Sofinnova, which is the biggest VC in biotech in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy view is when you are a startup you need to understand, pretty closely on the value chain, where are you good \u2014 and actually better than anyone else to do it?\u201d he adds. \u201cI consider that building the tech, building the process of fermentation, doing purification. All of that we can bring a lot\u2026 But when it comes to marketing, distribution and producing tonnes of final product, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to be better than any Danone or Nestl\u00e9.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t want to compete with them\u2026 I would love to partner with them and then actually also if you\u2019re serious about the [environmental] impact that you want to drive and\u2026 you are really serious about your mission then the only way to have the bigger impact is to help the guys that are doing tonnes of dairy products every single day. And so you don\u2019t want to fight them on marketing, distribution and new product but help them with an ingredient that allows them to reduce their footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n The dairy industry and other clients Bon Vivant is targeting to sell its yeast-grown milk proteins are interested in its ingredients to answer all sorts of \u201cfunctionality needs\u201d, per MacMillan \u2014 whether it\u2019s creating a gelling effect, foaming, texturizing etc \u2014 and he says there\u2019s no way to do that with only one type of milk protein coming out of the fermenting vats. Hence why it\u2019s developing microbial yeast strains that can produce whey and casein to ensure broad versatility for the multinational \u201cfood industrials\u201d it wants to sell to.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the beginning, we have two workstreams: One is on whey; another one is on caseins. Because that\u2019s just part of the strategy; we want to answer \u2014 and to be the one-stop-shop b2b leader for \u2014 dairy and food industrials,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Bon Vivant co-founders: H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Briand and St\u00e9phane MacMillan (Image credits: Bon Vivant)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MacMillan suggests this also gives Bon Vivant an edge vs rivals that have focused more narrowly, at least initially \u2014 saying he doesn\u2019t think anyone else in the cow-free milk space is (currently) working on both milk proteins. But he concedes the field is moving quickly and says he expects competitors will converge on the same strategy (so he\u2019s anticipating more pivots to b2b<\/a>). Bon Vivant\u2019s 19-month head-start on this road means it has a good chance to establish a lead, though, he believes.<\/p>\n Alt protein startups have faced some challenges in recent times \u2014 especially those cooking up products that aim to disrupt the traditional meat industry. But when it comes to producing non-animal based dairy the field is less crowded. Though there are some big names too, such as US-based Perfect Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n Setting aside plant-based alternatives to milk, which are ten-a-penny these days (but don\u2019t offer the same nutritional qualities, properties or taste as cow\u2019s milk), MacMillan says there are far fewer alt protein startups going after dairy. Yet with so many potential products that could make use of cow-free milk proteins as an ingredient \u2014 from drinks like milkshakes, to yogurts and cheese spreads (or indeed hard cheese, though that\u2019s clearly a bigger R&D challenge), confectionary and baked goods, to ice-cream, and plenty more besides \u2014 he\u2019s not sweating about the competition right now. Indeed, the potential pie (cheesecake?) looks big enough for many players to grab a slice.<\/p>\n The team\u2019s focus is rather on executing its plan to scale production and obtain the necessary regulatory clearances so its precision fermented proteins can find their way into all sorts of food products intended for human consumption.<\/p>\n Bon Vivant\u2019s milk proteins are indistinguishable from cow\u2019s milk proteins so could \u2014 technically \u2014 be used to produce \u2018vegan\u2019 cow\u2019s milk products since no cows were harmed in the production process. (The cow\u2019s DNA that\u2019s combined with the yeast comes from a cell bank.) But as a b2b supplier Bon Vivant isn\u2019t going to be a producer of vegan milk \u2014 or any other specific foodstuff. Its ambitions are broader: It wants to supply the food industry\u2019s giant need for more sustainable dairy proteins.<\/p>\n \u201cThe market we all have to serve is enormous. It\u2019s just massive,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd when you look at it, how many startups are we working on it right now, I think we are maybe like 30 something, 35 maybe\u2026 and that\u2019s really a small number. Compared to, take for example cell-based meat \u2014 which is a brand new technology, amazing one, and I mean it\u2019s still a real moonshot \u2014 [where] you have maybe 300 startups? Well-financed in the world. It\u2019s crazy. So, I don\u2019t think there is so much, to be honest, competition between all of us [non-animal dairy startups]. We really have all to be focused on the big food industrials that are waiting on us to produce 1,000s of tonnes. That is the focus.\u201d<\/p>\n Bon Vivant is anticipating the US market will be where it obtained its first regulatory clearance \u2014 and it\u2019s hoping to be able to commercialize its milk proteins there as soon as 2025.<\/p>\n MacMillan tells us he expects the process of obtaining regulatory clearance in the European Union to take longer (he suggests two to three years), on account of the bloc\u2019s more stringent food safety rules.<\/p>\n The new funding is being poured into scaling its production capacity towards, down the line, the commercial scale production needed to be a supplier to food giants. But there are still a number of stages on the road to get there. And MacMillan confirms it will be continuing to use third parties to help with production for the foreseeable future (he suggests this is an advantage of being able to leverage an existing technique, i.e. precision fermentation, to make a novel food product \u2014 whereas lab-grown meat startups have to tackle setting up novel production methods too).<\/p>\n Bon Vivant will use the seed funding to open a new lab in Lyon so it can produce more samples for its target clients in the food industry (\u201cpartners\u201d is how it refers to them currently; but, it hopes, clients in the future if\/when it secures contracts). The lab will be able to produce 40 litres of product so still way below commercial scale. It will also enable the startup to dial up testing and product development, per MacMillan.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are building our own lab. It\u2019s still only pre-production. We\u2019re going to be able to produce only samples \u2014 but they will allow us to accelerate tests and trials, innovation, IP production, all that,\u201d he notes, adding that the seed will also be spent on working towards regulatory clearances \u2014 paving the way for commercializing its novel milk proteins in a few years\u2019 time if all goes to plan.<\/p>\n While food startups that are cooking up alternatives to meat \u2014 whether lab-grown or plant-based \u2014 continue to face attacks from the traditional meat industry, such as suggestions their products are unhealthily ultraprocessed or unnatural \u2018frankenmeat\u2019 (or even attempts to sew doubt they have a lower carbon footprint than meat from farming animals), MacMillan sees a far more collaborative relationship blossoming between alt dairy producers and the traditional dairy industry.<\/p>\n Indeed, he doesn\u2019t like the term \u201calternative\u201d being applied to Bon Vivant\u2019s milk proteins as he argues its products will be \u201ccomplementary\u201d to traditional dairy, rather than a complete replacement for animal-based milk \u2014 at least certainly not for the foreseeable future. The assumption is changes to how established food systems operate won\u2019t happen overnight. So being a supplement, rather than trying to supplant, is the best strategy.<\/p>\n He argues precision fermented milk proteins could be a boon to the supply-constrained dairy industry by helping it tackle the challenge of rising demand for milk-based products while simultaneously providing a way for it to reduce its carbon footprint and align itself with a pressing, global sustainability agenda.<\/p>\n He even suggests we may see dairy products appearing on supermarket shelves in the future that contain a blent of both types of proteins: precision fermented and those squeezed directly from a cow\u2019s udder.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are really at the beginning of all this \u2014 we you only start to understand exactly the power of biotechnology and precision fermentation. So I think that at the end of the day, I would say the idea is not to replace the milk at all. It\u2019s more complimentary,\u201d he suggests. \u201cSo if already we could reduce \u2014 by 30% \u2014 greenhouse emissions of dairy products, so make a hybrid product, you\u2019d use milk and some of the proteins that we\u2019re producing, for example, you would reduce the use of [cows] that would work already \u2014 because that\u2019s the whole point, right?<\/p>\n \u201cSo, to me, I really see it as a complementary technology, rather than replacing [traditional dairy] \u2014 because we won\u2019t replace all milk. I mean, that\u2019s not the objective. So yeah, so assume at some point here, soon enough, you will be able to have animal proteins, old dairy products. I don\u2019t see why not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou also have to be realistic here and see what we\u2019re talking about,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt\u2019s a massive industry. [Big reductions in traditional dairy production] will not happen overnight. No way actually\u2026 Demand [for dairy] is growing, like a lot. At the same time, milk production is decreasing. So there is already a gap that we need to fill with our technology.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only way to really achieve what we want to achieve \u2014 which is reduce the carbon footprint, reduce the water consumption and all that; everyone wants to do that \u2014 we need to work all together on that to make it happen sooner rather than later. In any case, I mean, it\u2019s not going to happen overnight. We\u2019re not in the digital world where you can just [blitz-scale a new product]. It\u2019s the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n On the environmental credentials side, Bon Vivant recently published an early LCA<\/a> (aka, Lifecycle Assessment Report), which was undertaken by a third party \u2014 comparing production of 2,160 tonnes\/year of its fermented, animal-free whey protein against the same quantity of cow\u2019s milk. The study also factored in the production of the additional carbohydrates, lipids, minerals etc required to combine with its whey proteins to make an equivalent product to cow\u2019s milk. <\/span><\/p>\n Results from this early LCA look very promising \u2014 suggesting Bon Vivant\u2019s precision fermentation process could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 97%; drinking water consumption by 99%; and energy usage by 50% compared to obtaining the same amount of milk from cows.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEven though those figures, most probably, will move \u2014 because the process will change; and we will have to do a new version of the LCA probably once a year \u2014 still when you are at those type of figures \u2014 and if it\u2019s not 99%, it\u2019s going to be, what, 95? 92%? \u2014 it\u2019s still massive. And that\u2019s why it\u2019s really important,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt still means that you have a tremendous impact. That\u2019s why it\u2019s really, really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Starting a business that could have an impact was one of the fixed criteria MacMillan set himself when, towards the end of 2020, he was casting around to come up with his next big startup idea. (One of two prior startups he co-founded was the e-scooter firm Circ, which was acquired by Bird in 2020<\/a>; the other was a food delivery firm). Also on his wish-list was a business he could be building over the longer term \u2014 for \u201cthe next ten years\u201d. With precision fermented milk proteins he seems to have found the sweet spot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Commenting on Bon Vivant\u2019s seed raise in a statement, Michael Krel, partner at Sofinnova Partners, added: \u201cBon Vivant\u2019s pioneering work in animal-free dairy proteins through precision fermentation aligns perfectly with Sofinnova\u2019s mission to promote sustainable solutions for a healthier planet. We are delighted to support Ste\u0301phane, [co-founder] He\u0301le\u0300ne\u00a0and the team as they continue to transform the dairy sector and contribute to a more sustainable agri-food era\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n