SAN LEANDRO, CALIF. — Through a partnership with CJ CheilJedang, New Culture is aiming to lower the cost of its animal-free casein protein and scale up its first product, mozzarella for pizzerias.

New Culture recently scaled up its fermentation process that enabled the company to produce approximately 25,000 pizzas’ worth of cheese per run, according to the company.

The company formulates animal-free mozzarella using precision fermentation.

“Bringing our animal-free cheese to pizza lovers everywhere means producing it at a large enough scale and low enough cost so we can compete and win on product performance,” said Inja Radman, co-founder and chief science officer at New Culture. “Our partnership with CJ CheilJedang facilitates access to some of the largest and most sophisticated fermentation facilities on the planet to truly transform the dairy industry.”

CJ CheilJedang, parent company of Schwan’s Co., is a global supplier of fermentation based bio-products.

CJ CheilJedang invested in New Culture in November 2022 to accelerate product development and further scale up the production of its animal-free mozzarella.

“Since our initial investment in New Culture in 2022, the CJ CheilJedang team has continued to be impressed by the company’s technical progress, robust bioprocess, and global ambition in the animal-free dairy industry,” said Seung June Choi, senior vice president of strategic planning at CJ CheilJedang. “Whether through commercial manufacturing, procurement, or other technical support, this partnership enables the full scope of our expertise to accelerate New Culture’s growth and market leadership.”

New Culture also received support from ADM in 2022 to advance development and commercialization of its products.

Beyond support from CJ CheilJedang and ADM, New Culture has been securing funding over the years. The company raised $25 million in a Series A round in 2021 and $3.5 million in a seed funding round in 2019.