Those Vegan Cowboys Targets US Launch for Animal-Free Casein Ahead of €15M Fundraise
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Dutch-Belgian startup Those Vegan Cowboys is raising €15M for its recombinant casein as it prepares to enter the US this year, and has teamed up with dairy giant Hochland to test animal-free cheeses.
To get its cow-free cheese onto diners’ plates faster, Those Vegan Cowboys is stepping up its regulatory efforts and aiming to secure fresh capital from investors.
“We are currently raising €15M to get us on the road to commercialisation,” CEO Hille van der Kaa tells Green Queen.
The Ghent-based precision fermentation startup has its sights set on several markets globally, but will start with the US, where it plans to obtain (GRAS) Generally Recognized as Safe status by the end of the year.
Food tech in the US will likely have a rough time under the new Trump administration, especially if Robert F Kennedy Jr – a detractor of ultra-processed foods and GMOs – is confirmed as the new health secretary.
Van der Kaa indicates that the decision to begin stateside was due to the expectation of “earlier approval”. Asked about the political landscape, she says: “We are seeing a growing demand from the market, and we expect the market to do its thing.”
Focus on hybrid and animal-free cheeses

Those Vegan Cowboys has been working with several cheese producers in the last year to work out how its precision-fermented casein behaves in different circumstances at a lab scale. And last week, it announced a partnership with German dairy giant Hochland Group to test the protein in a variety of hard and soft cheeses on a larger scale.
Asked about the startup’s prediction capacity, van der Kaa says: The first set of scale-ups was successful, and we have planned the next set this year.”
The Hochland partnership comes three months after it claimed the protein can outperform its cow-derived counterpart under certain conditions. “Our partners have seen better stretching and melting compared to the animal-sourced version, allowing cheese producers to use less casein with the same result,” she explains. “This will ultimately lower the price of cheese. Now that we’ve got this casein, we want it to make as big an impact as possible.”
She calls the Hochland collaboration a “very important next step” on its path to market. “We are looking at various cheeses, including hybrid cheeses. Not only cheeses for the mass market, such as the well-known slices of cheese on burgers, but also high-end cheeses,” she explains.
“Those Vegan Cowboys, at the same time, is also working on the development of fully [animal-free] cheeses. We focus on both the B2B and B2C markets. B2B with a focus on sustainability and functionality – our casein has currently proven to be five times more functional. B2C will target the markets where we can have the most impact,” she adds.
Hochland CFO Hubert Staub notes that its dairy business will remain the “strong core”. “But we see that there is a demand for alternatives and we want to provide the best quality to our consumers. Milk proteins derived by precision fermentation could be a great solution,” he says.
Casein could also cater to applications outside of cheese
Casein makes up 80% of the protein content found in milk, and is crucial to the taste and functional attributes of dairy products like cheese – it’s what makes hard cheeses melt and stretch when they’re heated, allowing water and fat to emulsify and deliver the desired mouthfeel.
It represents a $2.7B market, but comes from a highly emissive, water-guzzling, land-hungry industry. Those Vegan Cowboys is among a host of startups working on producing bioidentical animal-free casein via fermentation, including New Culture, Standing Ovation, Change Foods, Zero Cow Factory, and Fermify.
Those Vegan Cowboys – the brainchild of the Dutch entrepreneurs behind The Vegetarian Butcher – says its microbial casein requires a fifth of the land and water compared to conventional casein, and produces 80% less carbon and no methane.
It also touts some nutritional benefits – when cheesemakers replace animal fats with specific plant-based ones, they can do away with saturated fats, lactose, and cholesterol.
“We are also preparing filings in Asia and evaluating various market scenarios,” says van der Kaa, adding that market entry in the EU is expected in the next three to four years.
In the US, New Culture and Fermify have already gained approval to sell precision-fermented casein, serving as a blueprint for firms like Those Vegan Cowboys. “Initially, we will sell on a small scale in the foodservice industry (restaurants, hotels, etc.) and be taking the cheese to market with one of our partners,” she says.
But she reveals that the cow-free casein may not be just restricted to cheese. “We are working with different cheese players, but there is also interest from other markets, such as confectionery and sports nutrition.”