Muu: Thai Animal-Free Dairy Startup Muu Bags Investment by Southeast Asian VC A2D Ventures

Bangkok-based Muu has secured a strategic investment from VCs and a Japanese food conglomerate to advance its precision-fermented dairy proteins.

As Thailand’s alternative protein ecosystem gears itself up for primetime, its first precision fermentation startup has attracted investors to accelerate its market entry.

Muu, which makes animal-free dairy proteins, has secured an undisclosed sum from A2D Ventures, Leave a Nest Japan, and an unnamed Japanese food giant, which it will use to expand the production and reach of its ingredients.

“Muu’s vision of revolutionising dairy through biotechnology aligns perfectly with our mission to advance deep tech for global sustainability,” said Yukihiro Maru, founder and CEO of Leave a Nest Group. “Their precision fermentation platform addresses the health, environmental, and ethical challenges of traditional dairy, while paving the way for a more secure and sustainable food future.”

Muu targets lactose intolerance with casein and whey proteins

Muu was founded in 2021 by CEO Chanapol Tantakosol and CMO Ja Rawikarn Dechdi, both of whom previously worked in marketing at TikTok.

The company’s four-step process involves strain development, fermentation, purification, and formulation. It’s similar to how beer is brewed, training its unique microbial strains to produce milk proteins instead of alcohol in fermentation tanks.

It makes use of readily available, cost-effective raw materials from Thailand’s agriculture sector, in a process that reduces land use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions by over 90%, compared to conventional dairy production.

Muu is working on both casein and whey proteins, making it one of the only such startups in the animal-free dairy space. Casein is the most abundant protein group in cow’s milk, and is the element that makes cheese melt and stretch, and makes yoghurts creamy. Whey proteins, meanwhile, provide emulsification, gelling and foaming properties, among others.

The Bangkok startup’s recombinant milk proteins are said to replicate the taste and nutritional profile of cow’s milk, and can be used in a variety of applications, from ice creams and chocolates to animal-free barista milks.

The company is looking to appeal to Southeast Asia’s lactose intolerance problem, with 50-90% of the population suffering from it. Its precision-fermented proteins are bioidentical to dairy, making them unsuitable for people with dairy protein allergies. However, they’re free from the lactose sugars found in cow’s milk, so Muu’s milk works for consumers with intolerances.

“Muu is uniquely positioned at the intersection of food, biotech, and climate impact,” said Ankit Upadhyay, general partner at A2D Ventures. “Their vision of animal-free dairy for Asia is bold, timely, and deeply needed… and their team has the chops to pull it off.”

Thailand’s burgeoning alternative protein system

Having previously been backed by Singapore’s Glocalink and 144 Ventures, won the Real-Tech Award at the Tech Planter in Thailand, and graduated from Hong Kong-headquartered VC firm Brinc’s accelerator programme, Muu is now looking to scale across Asia and expand globally.

Last year, the company signed an MoU with Lotte Fine Chemical, part of South Korea’s Lotte Corporation, which it labelled a “strategic move” that could help unlock future distribution channels and detailed market insights.

While more consumer research on precision fermentation is needed, Thailand’s appetite for alternative proteins is a welcome sign for companies like Muu. A 12,000-person survey last year found that 92% of its citizens had tried plant-based milk.

In a different survey from 2024, two-thirds of Thai consumers said they would reduce or stop eating meat in the next two years, with 44% wishing to replace it with traditional plant proteins, and 39% with novel alternatives. Meanwhile, a 2021 poll revealed that nearly all (97%) of Thailand’s population wants to try cultivated meat.

The country is building up its biotech ecosystem to speed up the development of these industries. BBGI, the biotech arm of energy conglomerate Bangchak Corporation, partnered with India’s Fermbox Bio to build the region’s first large-scale precision fermentation plants with a capacity of one million litres. The two firms have also teamed up with Israel’s Aleph Farms to initiate Thailand’s first cultivated meat factory.

Thailand’s National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) is reviewing a regulatory application for Aleph Farm’s cultivated beef steak, which could be approved for sale in mid-2026.

On the government level, the commerce ministry has announced plans to make Thailand the leading producer of high-protein plant-based ingredients, with its trade policy office working with the Fiscal Policy Research Institute Foundation to produce a roadmap for the industry’s future, spanning everything from R&D and production to processing, marketing and investment.

“During our early stages, we received significant support from both Thai government agencies and private sectors, including participation in early-stage accelerator programmes,” Tantakosol said in 2023.

While fermentation startups have enjoyed a fruitful year in terms of investments and regulatory progress, most leading startups are based in Europe and North America. Muu is one of only about a dozen companies developing dairy proteins from precision fermentation in Asia-Pacific, including All G, Eden Brew (both Australian), Daisy Lab (New Zealand), TurtleTree (Singapore), and Zero Cow Factory (India).