Main Sequence Ventures has led a $24.4 million Series A funding round for non-dairy ‘milk’ company Eden Brew.
Other institutions supporting the round are state government-backed venture capital fund Breakthrough Victoria – which is investing up to $6 million, Radar Ventures, Possible Ventures, New York-based Digitalis Ventures, NGS Super and Norwegian listed investment company Orkla ASA.
Individual investors include Australian musicians Bernard Fanning and Angus Stone plus music entrepreneur Paul Piticco and Paralympian tennis player Dylan Alcott.
Eden Brew was founded in 2020 based on CSIRO research into precision fermentation. The company received pre-seed funding from CSIRO spin-out fund manager Main Sequence Ventures and Australia’s largest dairy co-operative, Norco. Former Myer and Woolworths senior executive Jim Fader invested in and co-founded the company alongside Main Sequence partner Phil Morle and became chief executive.
Main Sequence, Norco and Digitalis Ventures provided seed investment of $5 million in mid-2022.
Morle says the company was formed with the objective of improving nutrition worldwide by developing a sustainable milk substitute which could be produced at lower cost and would consume lower volumes of resources, including water.
Eden Brew has developed a precision fermentation process to produce casein micelle which makes up 80% of the protein in dairy milk and is also responsible for the unique mouth feel of dairy milk.
Fader said the new capital will enable the company to bring to market alternative ‘milk’ products with ice cream high on the list.
Breakthrough Victoria’s commitment to the latest funding round has persuaded Eden Brew to relocate its headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne but the support of Norco, which processes dairy milk in northern NSW and uses large quantities of it to produce ice cream, means the company is still likely to begin production in NSW.
Image: Chief executive Jim Fader with the Eden Brew product.