Eden Brew raises $24.4 million to bring animal-free dairy products to market

Precision fermentation startup Eden Brew will move its headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne, after raising $24.4 million to further scale its efforts to bring animal-free dairy products to consumers.

The Series A round, led by CSIRO’s Main Sequence, has attracted some high-profile investors, including Paralympic gold medallist Dylan Alcott, musicians Bernard Fanning and Angus Stone, and musical industry entrepreneur Paul Piticco.

The Victorian government-backed Breakthrough Victoria contributed up to $6 million to the raise, which comes two years after Eden Brew launched with a $4 million investment in mid-2021. Eden Brew also raised $6.9 million in May 2022, from Main Sequence and US investor Digitalis Ventures.

Digitalis Ventures also participated in this latest round, along with Orkla, Possible Ventures and Radar Ventures.

Eden Brew is formed through a partnership between the CSIRO, its deep-tech venture fund Main Sequence, and dairy co-operative Norco. It is led by co-founder and chief executive Jim Fader.

The startup has developed a way to emulate the proteins found in cow’s milk to create animal-free dairy products, including milk and ice cream.

As well as facilitating the startup’s interstate move, the fresh capital injection will help Eden Brew obtain regulatory and patent approvals. It also plans to begin pilots for commercial-scale animal-free milk production and launch its ice cream product in the food service industry.

Eden Brew is focused on creating an entirely new category of animal-free dairy products to help “sustainably meet the growing demand for food on the planet”, says co-founder and CEO Jim Fader.

“We’re incredibly proud to continue to build our team in Melbourne and the investment we have received from Breakthrough Victoria is critical to enabling Eden Brew to commercialise.”

Breakthrough Victoria CEO Grant Dooley described Eden Brew as “a great example of what we can achieve in Australia when we bring together our strengths in science, investment and industry, and Breakthrough Victoria is excited to be part of that”.

“Eden Brew’s animal-free dairy technology is world-first and they’re working with the dairy industry to meet the growing demand for proteins globally in an environmentally sustainable way,” he added.

Australia’s precision fermentation industry is growing rapidly and the CSIRO predicts it will be worth $1.45 billion by 2030.

Main Sequence partner Phil Morle said the fund co-created Eden Brew with the “aim of sustainably increasing the world’s milk supply, through Australian research ingenuity and the immense precision fermentation opportunity”.

“As the global population continues to grow, it poses a very real threat to our existing food supply and resources, and companies like Eden Brew augment this to ensure the availability of food in the future,” he said.

“With this latest funding round, Eden Brew is now a step closer to achieving their mission and we look forward to continuing on the journey with them.”

The investment was announced in the lead up to Food Frontier’s AltProteins conference, which will take place in Melbourne on Wednesday, bringing together industry and policy experts and researchers from across Australia and New Zealand.

Food Frontier executive director Dr Simon Eassom said this kind of financial support will help break down some of the barriers facing companies in the alternative proteins space.

“We urgently require innovations and support to bring products like this to the market,” he said while congratulating the Eden Brew team.

“These products aim to feed a growing population without placing increased pressure on our agricultural ecosystems.

“One of the barriers for the sector is the ability to produce the products at a commercial scale, something this support will help to overcome,” Eassom added.