Vivici: dairy making without cows

The process is optimised in Vivici's laboratory at the Leiden Bio Science Park; the production takes place in the factories of specialised partners in Europe and Asia, and soon also in the United States. 'The fermentation occurs in large fermentation tanks. The end product is a white powder that we supply to other companies in the food industry.' It is used, among other things, as an ingredient in sports nutrition, protein drinks and bars, milk alternatives, ice cream, yoghurt, cheese, and even meat substitutes – everywhere high-quality, nutritious protein is needed. 'I am still amazed at how many applications our dairy protein can have.'

Matching missions

Vivici and Invest-NL have known each other since the conferences in the agrifood sector. Stephan: ‘When the time came to increase our equity, we approached Invest-NL. Many banks still consider us too young as a company and therefore assess the risk as high. Additionally, we also find it important to work with a partner with whom we align well regarding our mission.’

For Invest-NL, the protein transition is perhaps the most important focus area in the agrifood sector. Victor Meijer, investment principal at Invest-NL: ‘Our current food system is no longer sustainable, we need to change the way we eat. Innovative protein solutions like those from Vivici have the potential to fundamentally change the way we produce food.’

Value for the sector

Invest-NL considers Vivici not only an important player because of the potential impact the company can have on the protein transition, but also because of the technology being developed. Victor: ‘The Netherlands is leading in fermentation and cultivated meat, and such innovations are highly valuable for the sector. Companies can learn from each other and strengthen one another. All parties in the “ecosystem” can benefit from what is being developed. With various events, Invest-NL also tries to bring parties together.’

Vivici uses the investment to scale up production and expand its customer base. ‘Additionally, we are further optimizing the fermentation process to reduce costs,’ says Stephan. ‘Moreover, we will launch a second product later this year. It is a dairy protein that boosts the immune system and stimulates our gut flora so that it positively affects our iron metabolism. Isolating this protein from cow’s milk is very cumbersome and expensive. You need 10,000 liters of milk for 1 kilogram of protein. So here too, precise fermentation is a solution.’

Valley of death

Many innovative startups find themselves in a kind of chicken-and-egg scenario, as Stefan explains. ‘You can only deliver at low costs if you have enough market share, but to gain enough market share, you first need to deliver at low costs.’ It is the well-known valley of death challenge faced by startups: initially, you secure funding through subsidies or regional investment companies to develop your product, but then you have to scale up to generate more revenue while the income stream has not yet kick-started. ‘Invest-NL sees it as one of its most important roles to help companies through that phase,’ says Victor. ‘Until they are big enough and new funding can also be attracted from banks and other investment funds.’

What future developments does Stephan see for Vivici? ‘When we are large, it will mean that we have made the impact we want with our mission. We will then produce 10,000 tons of our dairy alternative protein, the equivalent of the protein production of 150,000 cows. It is quite conceivable that we will develop even more products, or that we will deliver directly to consumers, alongside companies. But for now, we are fully focused on becoming really good at what we do now. It is a very exciting challenge to turn a new technology into a successful business model.’