Formo gets investors' mouths watering with Koji protein-based, animal-free cheese
Summary
But while Koji is an ancient ingredient, Formo claims to be the first fermentation startup to be able to use it to make industrial quantities of dairy-free cheese.Thing is, the phrase vegan cheese can clear a room faster than a slab of Stinking Bishop. Its also a nutritious choice for food, per Plewka, who claims Formas non-dairy cheeses have like-for-like protein content as conventional cheese.We founded the company in 2019 and ever since weve developed three technology platforms and created a lot of IP value; patents and trade secrets, he tells TechCrunch. During that time, we have been the only player in the market that was able or is able to now launch profitable products at full industry scale with the second largest retailer out there, which drove a lot of the investor interest that we converted in the Series B.The use of Koji as its starter protein allows Formo to sidestep needing to have a novel foodstuff approved by European regulators a process that can take years meaning it can put its foods straight to market and start earning revenue.While Formo calls itself a precision fermentation startup, Plewka emphasizes this dual strategy explaining it started with something called micro fermentation, which doesnt entail altering the genetic structure of the microorganisms involved, so theres no requirement for regulatory clearance as novel foods.For its first wave of cheeses, Formo is essentially just fermenting and harvesting Koji proteins. The first two went on sale just last week, available in four SKUs (plain versions, plus herb and tomato variants for the spreadable product) at more than 2,000 REWE, BILLA and METRO stores in Germany and Austria.While scaling as a way to squeeze costs is part of Formos playbook, Plewka argues that the quality of its products justifies a premium with hugely improved sustainability and animal welfare benefits compared to traditionally produced cheese.Animal husbandry is extremely land and resource intensive, and the dairy industry has been reported to account for around 3.4% of global carbon emissions. Vegan cheeses avoid all these problems if only they can scale the big hill of winning over consumers.Formo says the micro fermentation-based process thats used to produce Frischhain generates 65% fewer emissions, uses 83% less land, and requires 96% less water than dairy-based cream cheese.There are no scary additives, either beyond the limited ingredients list of Koji proteins, plant-based proteins, water and a little salt so Formo can avoid accusations its churning out ultra-processed foods (a bucket where some low-quality vegan cheese products do clearly sit).We just want to bring delicious products with no downsides, no negative externalities, and full pleasure and joy to consumers at no cost for the environment or for the animals or for society as general, says Plewka.