Better Dairy
Entrepreneur First '20London, GB · Founded 2020 · 10 known investors
Better Dairy uses precision fermentation to produce bioactive milk proteins optimized for human development, targeting applications such as infant formulas that more closely mimic breastmilk and supplements for workout recovery. The company positions its proteins as more environmentally sustainable, requiring less greenhouse gas emissions and water than conventional dairy.
Also known as Better Dairy Ltd
Founders & leadership
Better Dairy was founded in 2020 by Jevan Nagarajah.
Investors · 10
Also in the syndicate · 3
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Better Dairy is a London-based food-technology company that uses precision fermentation and synthetic biology to produce milk proteins without animals. The company engineers yeast to express target proteins, ferments it in stainless-steel fermenters on water and sugar feedstock in a process it compares to beer brewing, then isolates, purifies and dries the protein into a powder for use in end-product formulations.
The company's current stated focus is bioactive breastmilk proteins "optimised for human development," beginning with osteopontin, which it describes as a multifunctional protein supporting immunity, bone density, cognitive development and gut health. It positions itself as unlocking the first supply of bioidentical osteopontin for infant nutrition, adult nutrition and personal care, and says it intends to extend to the wider set of breastmilk proteins, fats and sugars. Earlier public coverage describes a different starting point: from 2020 through at least 2025 the company was reported as developing animal-free dairy "molecularly identical" to conventional dairy, initially targeting whey and casein proteins and hard, aged cheeses, with fats to follow.
Sustainability claims are central to the company's positioning: it states precision fermentation emits 95% less greenhouse gas and uses 90% less water and land than traditional farming, and its founder has cited figures of over 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent from dairy farming annually and 650 litres of water per litre of milk.
Founding story
Better Dairy was founded by Jevan Nagarajah (CEO) and Dr. Christopher Reynolds (CTO), both alumni of Imperial College London, who met through Entrepreneur First's company builder programme. Nagarajah's prior experience included Rocket Internet, SumUp and Ritua, and founding the dark-kitchen startup ShareDining; Reynolds holds a PhD and post-doctoral experience in bioinformatics and synthetic biology with a degree in natural sciences spanning chemistry and biochemistry. The founders' stated premise was that animal dairy farming is unsustainable and that plant-based alternatives fall short on flavour, texture and nutritional profile, so molecularly identical fermentation-derived dairy is needed to disrupt the incumbent supply chain.
Business model
Business-to-business ingredient supply: the company produces purified protein powder (initially osteopontin) intended to be formulated into third-party infant nutrition, adult nutrition and personal care products. Earlier coverage described dairy proteins such as whey and casein as ingredients used across food categories, and finished animal-free cheese as a target category. Sources do not state pricing, contracts or commercial terms.
Not disclosed in the sources; the company is described as R&D-stage with an intended ingredient-supply model. No revenue figures, customers or offtake agreements are stated.
Traction
R&D-stage throughout the sourced coverage: first dairy samples produced in the lab by December 2020, with the 2022 Series A intended to move aged and hard cheeses toward testing. Team size grew to more than 25 (21-50 range reported). Over $20m raised across seed and Series A rounds. No customers, revenue, production volumes or regulatory approvals are reported in the sources.
Latest developments
Company materials accessed today describe a focus on osteopontin and a roadmap toward the full suite of breastmilk proteins, fats and sugars, and state over $20m raised since 2020. Third-party press mentions from May and July 2025 continue to describe the company's work on cow-free and lab-grown cheese via fermentation.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Described by vegconomist as the UK's first animal-free dairy producer and by Unreasonable Group as a pioneering food-tech company; it was listed at #7 on a UK Best New Startups Top 100 list. Its stated differentiator within precision-fermentation dairy is tackling harder technical targets — aged and hard cheeses rather than soft cheeses or whey alone, and now osteopontin, a protein the company says has been commercially inaccessible.
The company differentiates on technical difficulty and product specificity: targeting hard and aged cheeses rather than easier soft-cheese applications, and producing bioidentical osteopontin, which it says has been effectively unobtainable at scale because it is 15x less concentrated in cows' milk than breastmilk (roughly 40,000 litres of cows' milk per kilogram) and because cow-derived osteopontin is only 61% similar to the human protein, limiting regulatory approval. It contrasts its fermentation-derived proteins with plant-based alternatives, which its founder argues lack comparable flavour, texture and nutritional profile.
Technology
Precision fermentation using genetically engineered yeast. The yeast is modified to express the target milk protein, grown in large stainless-steel fermenters on water and sugars, after which the protein is separated from the broth, purified and dried into powder. The company frames the approach as an established industrial method already used for enzymes such as rennet and for insulin. It claims bioidentical output — molecularly identical to animal-derived dairy proteins — and cites a chief scientific officer with 30 years of protein-production experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
Go-to-market
Ingredient-led entry into regulated nutrition categories, starting with a single high-value protein (osteopontin) for infant and adult nutrition and personal care formulations. Earlier strategy targeted hard, aged cheeses as a deliberately difficult first category. The company has built visibility through press coverage (FT, The Economist, Bloomberg, BBC News, Radio 4, The Times, Sifted, TechCrunch, Sky News per its venture profile) and participation in the Unreasonable Impact accelerator programme.
Manufacturers and formulators in infant nutrition (infant formula), adult nutrition and sports/recovery supplements, healthy-ageing products, and personal care. Earlier positioning also targeted the broader food industry using whey and casein across cheese, soups and ready meals, bakery, confectionery, pasta and bread, and processed meat products.
Geography
Headquartered and operating from London / Greater London, United Kingdom. Sources reference the US only in the context of regulatory approval hurdles for cow-derived osteopontin.
History
Founded out of Entrepreneur First's company builder programme; TechCrunch reports founding in 2019 while vegconomist and the company's own site cite January 2020 / 2020 as the founding date. A £1.6M seed round led by Happiness Capital was announced in December 2020, with the stated aim of commercialising first products by early 2022. In March 2022 the company announced a US$22M Series A. It joined the Unreasonable Impact UK & Europe programme in March 2024, and further funding for animal-free cheeses was reported in April 2024. By 2025 the company stated it had raised over $20m and had repositioned its public messaging around breastmilk-inspired bioactive proteins, starting with osteopontin.
Risks & controversies
Sources indicate execution and cost risk: the founder noted that dairy is a low-cost commodity and that failing to reach sufficient production efficiency would make products prohibitively expensive, and that the main technical challenges lie in optimising the end-to-end production process and scaling manufacturing. Regulatory approval is a stated hurdle for osteopontin (cow-derived osteopontin's 61% similarity to the human protein has limited approval, e.g. in the US). Timeline slippage is also evident: the 2020 target of commercialising first products by early 2022 is not shown as met in later sources. Founding-date and headcount details differ across sources, and no independent verification of the company's environmental or efficacy claims appears in the material.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsUnreasonable Group's venture profile lists a #7 placement on the UK's Best New Startups Top 100 List among the company's notable achievements; the source does not date the ranking.
Press mention indexed by Unreasonable Group reports Better Dairy securing funding to further develop animal-free dairy alternatives; amount not disclosed in the source.
Better Dairy was included in the roster of 12 ventures added to Unreasonable Impact's UK & Europe programme.
Better Dairy secured US$22 million in Series A funding to advance its animal-free aged and hard cheeses toward the testing phase. Participants included Happiness Capital, RedAlpine, Vorwerk, Manta Ray, Acequia Capital and Stray Dog Capital.
$22M source ↗
Better Dairy raised £1.6 million (approx. US$2.1 million) in seed funding led by Happiness Capital, with CPT Capital, Stray Dog Capital, Veg Capital and angel investors participating. Funds were earmarked to accelerate R&D with the aim of commercialising first products by early 2022.
$2.1M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Better Dairybetterdairy.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Better Dairy do?
- London precision-fermentation company making bioidentical breastmilk proteins, starting with osteopontin, for infant and adult nutrition.
- Who founded Better Dairy?
- Better Dairy was founded by Jevan Nagarajah in 2020.
- Who are Better Dairy's investors?
- Better Dairy's investors include Bridford Investments (Bridford Group), Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Entrepreneur First, Happiness Capital, Upscale, Vorwerk Ventures, redalpine.
- Where is Better Dairy headquartered?
- Better Dairy is headquartered in London, GB.