Is Perfect Day Gearing Up for Fermented Gelatin?

Perfect Day, the California-based precision fermentation dairy producer, has acquired India’s Sterling Biotech Limited—one of the top gelatin producers in the world.

Nabbing Sterling Biotech, which sold at bankruptcy for roughly $78 million, Perfect Day is cementing its foothold in Asia. The acquisition comes as the company earned approval from India’s Food Safety and Standards Authority for its precision fermentation dairy. It also comes on the heels of launching its Very Dairy brand of precision milk in stores across Singapore earlier this week.

“This strategic acquisition stands to vastly expand our ability to make and sell protein while leveraging our robust technology platform across new ingredient opportunities,” Ryan Pandya, CEO and co-founder of Perfect Day, said in a statement.

Asian market opportunity

“We’re scaling our impact to all corners of the world. Expanding our commercialization and manufacturing capabilities in India is a critical step forward,” said Narayan Tripunithura Mahadeva, Perfect Day’s President. “Through regulatory approval and the acquisition of these state-of-the-art facilities in India, we’ve grown our presence in this important market, extending our ability to meet increasing global demand and deliver even more products to consumers.”

India is expected to be a global leader in alternative proteins. Already the world’s most populous country, its smart protein sector is rapidly expanding. According to recent research from the Good Food Institute and Deloitte India, smart protein’s total economic opportunity by 2030, for both domestic and exports across the country, could reach $4.2 billion.

Perfect Day’s expansion plans

The Sterling factory is capable of doubling its current output. They also offer Perfect Day new production funnels including gelatin and dicalcium phosphate. Perfect Day says expanding beyond milk protein is part of its mission. Gelatin is a co-product of the meat and dairy industries.

Perfect Day has seen a number of high-profile partnerships in the last year, including announcements with both Mars and Nestlé. Demand for precision fermentation dairy products is expected to be a top trend in 2023 and beyond.

Perfect Day’s tech allows it to produce dairy proteins without the need for animals. It programs microbes to produce whey, a key dairy protein in milk, cheese, and yogurt. The technology is more sustainable than conventional dairy production, which is a leading producer of greenhouse gas emissions.

The company is also licensing out its tech through Nth Bio, its enterprise biology spinoff that works with startups to use its tech in a range of branded products and services such as vaccines.

Lead image courtesy of Perfect Day.