<p><span class="xn-location"><strong>BERKELEY</strong> &#8212; </span>Perfect Day, Inc., best known as the creator of the world&#8217;s first animal-free milk protein, has scored a <span class="xn-money">$350 million</span> Series D funding round intended to fuel the company&#8217;s expanded focus across biological engineering, ingredient innovation, and consumer products. The round, co-led by Temasek and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), included participation from long-term investors such as Horizons Ventures and Walt Disney Chairman <span class="xn-person">Bob Iger</span>, as well as SK, Inc. who deepened their role with Perfect Day in this funding series. The round brings Perfect Day&#8217;s total funding up to <span class="xn-money">$750 million</span>.</p>
<p>Instead of relying on cows, Perfect Day utilizes microflora to create proprietary animal-free milk protein. Perfect Day&#8217;s protein can be used across a range of products to deliver the same taste and texture without compromise.</p>
<p>&#8220;When we first started this almost eight years ago, we had the simple goal of creating a way to make dairy without animals,&#8221; said <span class="xn-person">Ryan Pandya</span>, co-founder and CEO. &#8220;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.&#8221;</p>
<p>This mindset led, in 2016, to the company&#8217;s expansion into B2B supply chain innovation, selling protein to food companies; and in 2019, to the founders&#8217; foray into consumer products through The Urgent Company (TUC), now a full-fledged part of the Perfect Day umbrella.</p>
<p>In mid-2020, Perfect Day added SBF, Inc., a bioprocess scale-up facility located in <span class="xn-location">Logan, Utah</span>, to the corporate portfolio. Now, in addition to ingredient innovation and consumer products, the company intends to expand its offerings into &#8220;enterprise biology,&#8221; providing technology development services for companies looking to harness the sustainability and scale that Perfect Day has proven it can deliver.</p>
<p>&#8220;We first got into the ingredient business because food companies, big and small, were eager to work with the ingredients we had successfully scaled,&#8221; said <span class="xn-person">Perumal Gandhi</span>, Perfect Day co-founder. &#8220;Today, something analogous is happening on the technology side. There are innovators all over the world with ideas and ambitions similar to our animal-free milk protein, but need help getting there. We&#8217;re standing up business models to be able to share our demonstrated capabilities in a way that maximizes upsides for all, yet ensures that Perfect Day remains at the forefront of our new industry.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been so impressed by what Perfect Day has done in such a short time,&#8221; said <span class="xn-person">Bob Iger</span>, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, The Walt Disney Company. &#8220;I look forward to continuing to be part of their journey.&#8221;</p>
<p>SBF, Perfect Day&#8217;s &#8220;enterprise biology&#8221; business, is already profitable with a strong roster of customers. TUC&#8217;s first brand, Brave Robot, is <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&;l=en&;o=3308070-1&;h=3050622207&;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prnewswire.com%2Fnews-releases%2Fthe-urgent-companys-brave-robot-is-top-category-growth-driver-in-its-debut-year-301383952.html&;a=the+leading+growth+driver" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">the leading growth driver</a> for plant-based ice cream, available in over 5,000 grocery stores, including Kroger, Sprouts, and Stop &; Shop, across <span class="xn-location">the United States</span>. Building upon this success, Perfect Day is further investing in TUC with the launch of its next brand, Modern Kitchen. Soon to offer a range of household dairy staples, Modern Kitchen will debut animal-free cream cheese to select stores in the months ahead and is now available for preorder at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&;l=en&;o=3308070-1&;h=1591623230&;u=https%3A%2F%2Featmodern.kitchen%2F&;a=eatmodern.kitchen" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">eatmodern.kitchen</a>.</p>

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