What if a cow never had to be involved in making dairy again? What if the proteins in baby formula could be made to match breastmilk more closely? What if the future of nutrition didn’t require farming at all? This is what Better Dairy are building from their laboratory in London.
Better Dairy is a precision fermentation company founded in 2020, working to produce animal-free milk proteins that are bio-identical to those found in human breastmilk. They are a prime example of a symbiotic business: a business that goes further than simply having economic goals, but also produces social and ecological good.
What is Better Dairy?
Better Dairy use a process called precision fermentation to produce milk proteins – without cows! The idea begins with yeast: the team genetically tweak yeast so that it knows how to produce osteopontin, a protein found abundantly in breastmilk but at only a tiny fraction of that concentration in cows’ milk. The yeast are then fed water and sugars in large stainless-steel fermenters – similar to the brewing process – and produce osteopontin as they ferment. The protein is then isolated, purified, and dried into a powder ready to be used in both baby and adult nutritional products.
Why osteopontin? It’s described as a “powerhouse” protein for good reason. It plays a key role in building immunity, strengthening bones, supporting cognitive development, and maintaining gut health – especially critical in early life. The problem is that cows’ milk osteopontin is only 61% similar to the human version, and its concentration in cows’ milk is 15 times lower than in breastmilk. This means it takes 40,000 litres of cows’ milk to yield just one kilogram of the protein. Better Dairy’s precision fermentation route produces a bio-identical version of the protein at a far more impressive scale.
“We drive better health in all of life’s stages by unlocking the full potential of milk. All thanks to precision fermentation.” – Better Dairy
What makes Better Dairy symbiotic?
A symbiotic business, as described in Frank Birkin’s Symbiotic Businesses, is a business that has ecological and social benefits, as well as economic ones.
Ecologically, Better Dairy acts upon a major issue – climate change. We’re all well aware of just how impactful livestock agriculture is with GHGs – it accounts for approximately 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This is driven primarily by methane from cattle and the feed supply chains that support them. Better Dairy’s precision fermentation process emits 95% fewer greenhouse gases than with conventional farming, and uses 90% less water and land. Additionally, there’s no hassle of maintaining and caring for a herd of cattle to extract a few kilograms of protein – all they need is a simple fermenter. The land freed from that production could remain as forest, grassland, or undergo restoration and regeneration.
Socially, Better Dairy addresses a significant gap – cows’ milk proteins don’t perfectly match human nutritional needs. Some critical components are present at the wrong concentration or with the incorrect structure. By producing bio-identical breastmilk proteins, Better Dairy can help close that gap, making formula closer to breastmilk than has ever been possible before (without needing humans). The benefits go beyond just childcare: preliminary literature suggests osteopontin may play a role in processes such as bone remineralisation, tissue repair, inflammation modulation, and immune function – opening applications in supplements and healthy-ageing products for adults too.
Economically, the precision fermentation dairy market is growing rapidly, from $3.21 billion in 2025 to a projected $4.53 billion in 2026. This is driven by demand for animal-free, sustainable protein. Better Dairy has already raised over $20 million in funding and is developing the full suite of breastmilk proteins, fats, and sugars – a pipeline that places them at the centre of a shift in how dairy nutrition is produced globally.
Better Dairy in the food sector
The global food system is one of the largest contributors to climate change, and dairy farming sits right near the top of that contribution. Cattle are responsible for around two-thirds of livestock-related greenhouse gas emissions. That’s through methane from digestion, nitrous oxide from manure, and carbon dioxide from the land cleared to grow their feed. Demand for dairy nutrition is also increasing, particularly in baby formula markets across Asia, where the nutritional requirements are highest and supply chains are more complex.
Precision fermentation offers a different model entirely. Instead of scaling cattle herds to meet that demand, we can scale fermenters – which offer a smaller physical footprint, lower emissions, less water, and all without the animal welfare concerns. The output is chemically identical to what the cow, or the breastfeeding mother, would have produced. Better Dairy makes dairy better, nutritionally, ecologically, and socially.
This is just one of the examples of symbiotic businesses you can find on the Intrinsic Spring database. If you’d like to read about another company in the precision fermentation food space, why not check out Perfect Day who offer a superior whey protein solution in terms of taste and texture to plant-based options? And for another look at how materials science is transforming what we eat and use every day, see Vivomer by Shellworks, a biodegradable alternative to the plastic packaging now used by leading consumer brands.
