Danone has made a second investment in alternative proteins within a month with a minority stake in Imagindairy. The deal went through Danone Manifesto Ventures, the French group’s corporate venture arm. “It’s an investment that will help us move forward,” comments Dr. Eyal Afergan, co-founder and CEO of Imagindairy, told The Times of Israel. “It’s a multifaceted partnership, with investment at one end and discussions to build a collaboration with the R&D teams to develop animal-free products and eventually once we have the right product and everything else like cost, price and taste clarified, then this could lead us to a trade agreement.”
Imagindairy has raised $28 million in seed funding since its inception in 2020 from investors including Target Global, Strauss Group, Emerald Technology Ventures, Green Circle Foodtech Ventures, Collaborative Fund and New Climate Ventures.
The investment marks Danone’s first foray into precision fermentation. In April, Danone invested $2 million in Wilk, a startup using cell-based technology to reproduce human milk for the infant formula market.
