Vivici: Big Dairy-Backed Startup Raises $34M for Animal-Free Whey Proteins

Dutch precision fermentation startup Vivici has closed a €32.5M ($33.7M) funding round to scale production and introduce new animal-free dairy proteins.

A year after obtaining regulatory clearance in the US, Dutch animal-free dairy producer Vivici has raised €32.5M ($33.7M) in Series A funding.

The investment was led by state fund Invest-NL and pension fund ABP, with participation from The Hague’s InnovationQuarter, as well as DSM-Firmenich and Fonterra.

Having already secured offtake agreements with food companies in the US, the firm will use the capital to expand production of its recombinant beta-lactoglobulin protein, expand into new markets, and launch bovine lactoferrin in the second half of 2025 under its Vivitein brand.

CEO Stephan van Sint Fiet had hinted at the Series A and the launch of its lactoferrin last year, developing strains for the whey protein in collaboration with Boston-based synbio firm Gingko Bioworks. “It has always been Vivici’s ambition to market a broader valuable protein portfolio, so to not just be a one-trick pony,” he tells Green Queen.

“There are considerable technology and market synergies between beta-lactoglobulin and lactoferrin. So from a production perspective, we can use much of the same process. From a market perspective, it’s really much of the same market segments that we can target.”

Vivici’s beta-lactoglobulin offers functional and sustainability benefits

While Vivici is among a newer crop of precision-fermented dairy startups, it has been able to progress rapidly thanks to the expertise and IP created by years of collaboration between DSM-Firmenich and Fonterra.

Precision fermentation combines the process of traditional fermentation with the latest advances in biotechnology to efficiently produce a compound of interest – in this case, dairy proteins.

Vivici is first targeting beta-lactoglobulin, comprising 65% of all whey proteins found in dairy. It has gelling, foaming, and emulsification properties that enhance the texture of foods and beverages, contains all essential amino acids, and can be rapidly absorbed in the blood plasma.

The startup’s recombinant protein has a leucine composition of 16% and branched-chain amino acid concentration of 29% (higher than conventional dairy, according to some estimates). These play a crucial role in protein synthesis and energy production, and are the only amino acids that don’t degrade in the liver. 

Vivici’s beta-lactoglobulin is clear in colour and neutral in flavour, and can be used in applications like ready-to-mix protein powders, ready-to-drink protein beverages, and protein bars.

According to an independent life-cycle assessment, its animal-free beta-lactoglobulin has a 68% lower carbon footprint than its conventional counterpart and uses 86% less water. This would be important for one of Vivici’s investors, Fonterra. As the world’s largest dairy exporter, it is New Zealand’s worst polluter and has faced legal action for its climate impact. The company has committed to slashing its emissions footprint from dairy by 30% by 2030.

Why Vivici is targeting lactoferrin

Beta-lactoglobulin is the target protein for a number of precision fermentation startups, including Californian pioneer Perfect Day, Remilk and Imagindairy, all of which have received a ‘no further questions’ letter from the FDA.

Now, it’s also expanding into lactoferrin, an iron-binding protein found in human milk and bovine colostrum. It boasts several functional benefits, including antibacterial, immunity-boosting, and gut-strengthening properties – but it’s only available in small concentrations in milk, driving up prices and keeping the supply reserved for infant nutrition and supplementation.

“We believe it has enormous potential,” says van Sint Fiet. “It is very scarce in nature. It is valued for its health and bioactive properties, and it is currently in a constrained supply situation. The market is sizeable [$676M in 2024] – but it is very constrained, and so in our eyes, that makes it an ideal target for precision fermentation.”

Its move into lactoferrin reflects an ongoing trend in the industry – with the high costs currently associated with these technologies, several players are pivoting to this higher-value protein for better margins. Startups targeting lactoferrin include Australia’s Noumi, New Zealand’s Daisy Lab, and US startups Helaina, De Novo Foodlabs and Triplebar Bio.

So far, only Singapore’s TurtleTree and Sydney-based All G Foods have self-obtained GRAS status for animal-free lactoferrin in the US, but Vivici plans to join that list imminently. “We plan to bring the product market to the second half of 2025, and that requires that we have reached self-affirmed GRAS status, at the very least, by that time,” its CEO says.

Vivici eyes international expansion ahead of US launch

Headquartered at the Biotech Campus Delft, Vivici has a dairy protein application lab in the Food Valley at NIZO Food Research. It is working with co-manufacturers in Europe and the US to produce on a commercial scale, and tested its process in a 75,000-litre fermenter at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP) in November.

“We work with partners that have sizeable industrial capacity – in the hundreds or even thousands of cubic metre fermentation capacity,” says van Sint Fiet. “And because they are contract manufacturers, they allow us to sort of flexibly access the capacity as we need it from a commercial perspective.”

He feels it’s “premature” to operate Vivici’s own facility, given its relative infancy, but views it as a viable option in the future. “In our initial scaling of the business, It’s wise to do this with partners,” he says.

Last year, Vivici was one of several startups in the space to receive regulatory clearance in the US, in the form of self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status. It has since notified the Food and Drug Administration of its determination.

“The US is a market that’s large and, from a regulatory perspective, can be accessed on a shorter timeline,” says van Sint Fiet. “The market approval procedures in other countries are typically longer, but we are underway in other markets as well.”

Vivici is eyeing the EU, Singapore, the UK and Canada in the near-term, and has filed regulatory dossiers in some of these regions. “And then we’re also looking at select Asian markets,” he adds.

As for its US launch, he says: “We are delivering product now to our customers, and we should see things on the shelf pretty shortly.”