Verley, a French precision-fermentation startup, is working towards making the dairy protein beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) in 200,000-litre fermentation tanks at a co-manufacturer, and plans to start selling commercially next year. Co-founder and chief executive Stephane Mac Millan described the scale-up to AgFunderNews at the Future Food-Tech summit in London.
BLG is one of the proteins found in whey. Verley produces it with microbes in fermentation tanks instead of extracting it from milk, and it does not try to compete with commodity whey protein. Mac Millan said the purity of its BLG lets food makers put 25 grams of protein into a 100-ml drink that stays clear and thin, and push drinkable UHT yogurt to 13% protein, against the usual ceiling of about 9%. The company says it has more than 20 applications in food and drink.
On titre, yield and productivity, he said, the company is where it wants to be. The work now is downstream processing: separating the protein from the fermentation broth while losing as little as possible. "The more DSP steps you have, the more you lose product," he said.
On price, Mac Millan said the Danish dairy group Arla sells BLG extracted from milk at more than $40 a kilogram, the same price as Verley, and that greater volume should let Verley go lower. The company received a US GRAS no-questions letter in September 2025, expects Canada next, and hopes for European approval through the novel foods process within two to three years.
Investors, he said, now want proof of a market, of a product customers ask for, and of production "of thousands of tons repeatedly with the same quality". Verley is using co-manufacturers because venture money cannot finance its own plants.
For dairy farmers and processors, Verley's progress is one sign of how quickly animal-free milk proteins are moving from the laboratory towards the ingredients market.
Photo: Adrem68 at Dutch Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Source: AgFunderNews
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