Zero Cow Factory, a biotechnology company producing animal-free protein and dairy products using bioengineering microbes and precision fermentation, has raised $4 million ( ₹32 crore) in a seed round.
The round was co-led by Green Frontier Capital, GVFL and pi Ventures, with participation from Pascual Innoventures, the investment arm of a Spanish dairy group Calidad Pascual. With this funding, Zero Cow Factory will be able to accelerate its R&D efforts, scale up production capacity, and obtain regulatory approvals to hit the market.
Surat-based Zero Cow Factory was founded in 2021 by Sohil Kapadia and Parini Kapadia with the aim of revolutionising the dairy industry by producing sustainable animal-free milk proteins and dairy products. Their product is a new alternative to cow’s milk protein that replicates its taste, texture, nutrient profile, and appearance.
“We are excited to partner with our investors’ outstanding setup and combine them with our talented team, which positions us uniquely to lead the way in building a global dairy 3.0 that is animal-free, sustainable, and scalable,” said Sohil Kapadia, Co-founder, and CEO of Zero Cow Factory.
Patented tech
The company has developed a patented technology to produce dairy proteins such as casein & whey, without any animal being involved. Zero Cow Factory is focused on animal-free casein production which is a complex protein and hasn’t been commercialised by any company globally. The company’s first product is A2 Beta- casein which is also healthier as the A1 milk protein which causes indigestion is absent from their product, it said.
It aims to be the first company to get global regulatory approval for this protein. This will be used to formulate various sustainable food and dairy products like cheese, yogurt, ice cream, supplement powder, etc which are used across various industries like food, dairy, CPG, nutraceutical, and dietary supplements.