Miruku - Investment Notes

We’re delighted to announce our $1.5m investment into Miruku, leading an $8m ‘pre-A’ capital raise with participation from our friends at Movac, Icehouse Ventures, Aspire, Cultivate Ventures and NZVC.

Miruku aims to grow dairy products in genetically-modified plants in order to enable the manufacture of dairy without the cow at scale. To do this, Miruku employs a process known as ‘molecular farming’, where plant cells are recruited as mini factories to produce dairy proteins, fats and sugars identical to those that have been traditionally sourced from animals.

Miruku’s technology will enable the development of actual dairy products, like cheese and yogurt, with significantly lower cost and environmental impact.

Importantly, the company’s intention is not to produce liquid milk or other dairy products themselves, rather Miruku aims to supply dairy proteins, fats and sugars as ingredients to large food manufacturers such as Nestlé. Dairy proteins such as beta-casein enable functionality in food, for example the provision of solubility in beverages, stretch and melt in cheeses, and stability in creams.

Miruku’s opportunity is to supply food manufacturers with dairy ingredients with this functionality at lower cost and impact than traditional animal farming (as well as other alternative approaches such as precision fermentation and plant-based products).

We’re thrilled to be supporting Amos, Ira, Abby, Tom, Harjinder and Oded as they develop this important project.