Formo and Those Vegan Cowboys partner to industrialize precision fermentation casein proteins

Germany's Formo Bio has partnered with Those Vegan Cowboys (TVC), a Belgium-based company focusing on precision fermentation-derived caseins. The partnership will look to combine development efforts across strain engineering, bioprocessing and the large-scale production of caseins to bring precision fermentation caseins to the mass market.

Caseins are naturally occurring phosphoproteins found in dairy products which are essential to the characteristic textures and properties of certain cheeses, such as melting and stretching. Formo believes that the partnership will bring technological efficiency gains, accelerating this path to cost parity. Throughout the partnership, Formo and TVC will maintain their distinct identities as separate companies and each market their own line of animal-free cheeses.

As founders of Food Fermentation Europe, an organization aiming to raise awareness and build a forward-looking policy framework for precision fermentation food and ingredients in Europe, Formo and TVC will also be working with the European Food Safety Authority to drive legislative change to facilitate the adoption of precision fermentation produced foods.

Formo is already producing animal-free cheese that has the same taste, texture, and functional properties as conventionally produced cheeses but comes at a substantially lower cost for the environment, human health, and animal welfare. Formo's precision fermentation-enabled cheese will enter the market later in 2024.

"Our technology is the key to conquering a trillion-dollar market in the next ten years," stated Raffael Wohlgensinger, CEO, Formo. "In order to gain a leading market share together with our partners, the production of animal-free casein needs to be able to compete with animals on a cost level. The initiated collaboration allows us to improve the technological efficiency and scale of production to achieve this very goal."

"This strategic partnership is a positive step forward in achieving the essential milestone of reaching cost-parity with conventionally produced protein," added Jim Mellon, Executive Chairman of Agronomics, which counts Formo among its portfolio companies. "With their joint capabilities, Formo and Those Vegan Cowboys are well equipped to deliver on their goal of commercializing precision fermentation caseins to establish more ethical and environmentally friendly dairy production without compromising the foods we love to eat."