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Perfect Day lands $350M, introduces cream cheese

Animal-free dairy protein company Perfect Day announced it closed a $350 million Series D funding round led by Temasek and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). Additional participation came from long-time investors Horizons Ventures, Bob Iger and SK, Inc.

In its release, the company said it will use these additional funds to focus its efforts on biological engineering, ingredient innovation, and consumer products. The round brings Perfect Day's total funding up to $750 million. As part of the announcement, the company said it will launch an animal-free cream cheese product under its consumer arm, The Urgent Company (TUC).

A portion of this new round of funding will be directed toward Perfect Day’s TUC, which announced it is debuting a new brand of animal-free dairy staples called Modern Kitchen. This brand’s initial launch will include three varieties of animal-free cream cheese, which The Urgent Company says will be available in select stores in the upcoming months. Currently, the brand is now available for presale online where it retails at $30 for a 3-pack.

This is the second product to come from Perfect Day, which initially rolled out a cow-free ice cream in 2019 which sold out within hours. Since that success, Perfect Day has long said it planned to enter other categories to offer a dairy alternative that is made milk – just without the cow.

The philosophy driving the innovation behind Perfect Day’s products is a paradigm shift in the alternative protein industry. Instead of using proteins from plant-based sources, Perfect Day makes its dairy proteins through precision fermentation in order to engineer a protein that is the same as the ones typically produced by an animal. By giving consumers access to the ingredients they want without having to involve animals – which is becoming a greater concern as questions surrounding sustainability, animal welfare and overall health come to the forefront of the conversation – Perfect Day has positioned itself to become a popular alternative in the CPG supply chain.

"When we first started this almost eight years ago, we had the simple goal of creating a way to make dairy without animals," Pandya said in a written statement. "We quickly realized that we could maximize our positive impact for the planet and the global food system by applying our technology and know-how across the supply chain."

The animal-free dairy company has taken its next step in applying its technology across the supply chain with the announcement that it will sell Strawberry, Spring Onion + Chive, and Harissa Pepper varieties of cream cheese. While these products are only available for pre-order at the moment, if the success of the company’s Brave Robot ice cream is any indication of the future growth of its cream cheese product – The Urgent Company's said its Brave Robot ice cream brand is sold in 5,000 grocery stores nationwide – there is a bright future ahead for Perfect Day.