TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — Remilk Ltd., an Israel-based startup producing animal-free dairy products, closed an $11.3 million funding round led by fresh.fund with participation from OurCrowd, CPT Capital and ProVeg.

The company uses microbial fermentation to replicate the properties of dairy proteins, allowing for authentic taste and texture in dairy derivatives like cheese, yogurt and cream, without the cows. The lab-made dairy products require 1% of the land, 4% of the feedstock and 10% of the water to produce than comparable dairy products and contain no cholesterol, lactose, antibiotics or growth hormones, Remilk said. They offer enhanced functionalities compared to animal-derived dairy and may be used as a starting material for large scale dairy production.

Remilk will use the funds from its latest round to expand its production and distribution capabilities.

“Today’s non-dairy alternatives address environmental and health concerns, but universally fail to create authentic dairy-based products, like cheese,” said Aviv Wolff, co-founder and chief executive officer at Remilk. “We’re bridging this gap by making dairy products with dairy proteins, without needing a single cow. Our proprietary technology delivers the most authentic animal-free dairy product in the market today and is identical to natural dairy. With our new partnerships for production and distribution, we’ll soon be ready to reinvent this multibillion-dollar industry.”

Food manufacturers Hochland, Tnuva and Tempo also participated in the funding round, along with Bradley Bloom, co-founder and former managing director of Berkshire Partners, and investors Sake Bosch, Amiad Solomon and Beni Nofech.