Animal-Free Whey Startup ‘Sidesteps’ Potential Tariff Concerns with US Manufacturing Deal

To avoid any potential blowback from the tariff war, Dutch startup Vivici has struck a co-manufacturing deal to produce its precision-fermented whey proteins at Liberation Labs’s upcoming facility.

The uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s tariff war has left many startups and businesses scrambling for solutions to their manufacturing strategies.

“Across the food tech sector, startups need to map what their potential exposure is, and how to adapt for minimum economic impact and maximum potential for the long run,” Nadav Berger, founding general partner at Peakbridge, told Green Queen last month. “That might mean moving away from the US as a target market – or instead speeding up the establishment of US operations.”

One startup making animal-free dairy proteins, already approved for sale in the US, is opting for the latter. Dutch precision fermentation firm Vivici has teamed up with US manufacturer Liberation Labs to produce its recombinant whey proteins at the latter’s Indiana facility, which is set to begin operations in 2026.

“Tariffs don’t fundamentally change the business case for fermentation-derived dairy proteins,” explains Vivici CEO Stephan van Sint Fiet. “Having said that, by partnering with a US-based [manufacturer], we are sidestepping any concerns on this topic.”

He adds that the deal is about “enabling local, reliable supply for the US market” and “complements our capabilities in Europe”.

Vivici touts cost-effective collaboration

Backed by the likes of DSM-Firmenich and Fonterra, Vivici’s flagship ingredient is a beta-lactoglobulin protein titled Vivitein BLG. This is a recombinant version of the main protein found in dairy, known for its gelling, foaming, and emulsification properties.

Vivici’s cow-free protein contains all essential amino acids, and is clear in colour and neutral in flavour. And according to an independent life-cycle assessment, it has a 68% lower carbon footprint than its conventional counterpart and uses 86% less water and 61% less land.

The ingredient received a ‘no questions’ letter from the US Food and Drug Administration in March, building on Vivici’s self-determined Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status. It means the startup can sell the beta-lactoglobulin to manufacturers for a variety of use cases, including protein powders and bars, water-based protein drinks, desserts, bakery mixes, and meat, fish and egg analogues.

Its partnership with Liberation Labs will help it scale up production of the process locally in the US, leveraging the Richmond-based facility’s 600,000-litre capacity and fully dedicated downstream process.

Exactly how much of Vivici’s beta-lactoglobulin will be produced in Liberation Labs’s plant is under wraps, but van Sint Fiet says it would be a cost-effective process, thanks to the factory’s scale and “the fact that it is purpose-built for methanol-fed yeast processes, and thereby optimal for our protein production platform”.

“Both companies share a certain DNA,” he adds. “The Liberation Labs and Vivici teams both have decades of experience in industrial biotechnology and understand what it takes to execute on an industrial scale.”

Liberation Labs ‘logical’ option for Vivici’s bovine lactoferrin too

Founded in 2022, Liberation Labs is a biotech manufacturer with a specific focus on precision-fermented materials, including “building-block ingredients” for food, chemical and other industries at a capacity and cost that first the needs of both new and established CPG companies, and other industrial manufacturers.

At the heart of its technology is its purpose-built biomanufacturing platform, Bio³, which is adaptable to fit at least 80% of the market, and designed to optimise costs and enhance quality at large volumes. The Richmond facility alone will be able to produce 600-1,200 tonnes of protein annually, and it’s not the only plant in the works.

The company has received an eyewatering amount of funding for its facilities, including $71.5M in private capital, and $55M in non-dilutive financing commitments (which involve a $25M loan guarantee from the US Department of Agriculture).

Liberations Lab’s latest tranche of investment came from Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Investment Fund, which it’s using to design and develop plans for a commercial-scale precision fermentation facility in the Gulf nation. Overall, the firm aims to build factories in six geographies, starting with a 600,000-litre launch facility, followed by a plant with a capacity of four million litres in each market. The locations include the US, Europe, the Middle East, Brazil, East Asia, and Australia.

“Vivici is a perfect reference case for our facility – a company seeking cost-effective and sustainable manufacturing of a novel protein ingredient that unlocks a range of other healthy and innovative products,” said Mark Warner, founder and CEO of Liberation Labs.

Vivici, meanwhile, is also working on recombinant bovine lactoferrin, a whey protein known for its iron-binding and functional properties, and one that’s short in supply and high in demand. “It has always been Vivici’s ambition to market a broader valuable protein portfolio, so to not just be a one-trick pony,” van Sint Fiet told Green Queen in February.

He reveals that the firm is “on track” to launch the ingredient by the end of the year: “For lactoferrin, we will leverage the same protein production platform, so Liberation Labs’s facility would be a very suitable and logical production option.”

Tariffs cause uncertainty in food tech sector

Trump’s tariffs have brought with them a ton of chaos, with sweeping statements and walkbacks and delays reflective of the volatility of this administration.

Initially, he announced a blanket tax of 20% on most EU goods imported into the US; as the financial markets dipped and public panic rose, he announced a three-month delay on this rate. Instead, the EU now faces a 10% tariff, like most other countries, until July 8.

While there are hopes of a trade deal before that deadline, it has still left the food tech industry with a lot of thinking and tinkering to do.

“As we are dealing with an industry that is already fighting to survive on the slightest of margins – and at industrial scale, let alone at pilot scale – US tariffs could result in a complete erosion of those already-thin margins,” Matteo Leonardi, investment manager at Italian VC firm Grey Silo Ventures, told Green Queen last month.

“You might not be dealing with tariffs directly today, but the choices you make now (about ingredients, co-manufacturers, or go-to-market regions) can either limit or unlock your ability to adapt later,” warned Heather Courtney, general partner at Alwyn Capital.

Steve Simitzis, a partner at Solvable Syndicate, pointed out how the current uncertainty carries a sense of déjà vu. “So far in the 2020s, we’ve had Covid-19, [the] Silicon Valley Bank failure, the war on Ukraine, runaway inflation, and now tariffs.”

Perhaps his advice is the wisest: “Find yourself an ‘Only the Paranoid Survive’ embroidered pillow on Etsy and live by it.”