Brief: Perfect Day raises $350m, plots IPO – report

• US alt-dairy startup Perfect Day has raised $350 million in Series D funding, The Wall Street Journal reports.
• Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board co-led the round. Other Series D investors included Disney executive chairman Robert Iger.
• People close to the company told the Journal that it is preparing for an IPO within the next 12 months.

Why it matters:

‘Animal-free’ dairy startups have been scoring significant VC funding of late. These include Nobell Foods, which raised $75 million in July; Miyoko’s Creamery and Stockeld Dreamery, which banked $52 million and $20 million, respectively, in August; and Formo, which closed a $50 million Series A round earlier this month.

Perfect Day uses genetically modified microflora to ferment sugar into proteins found in cow’s milk. It then sells these to food manufacturers, such as US ice cream maker and supplier Villa Dolce; the partnership between the two companies, announced earlier this week, marks Perfect Day’s first foray into the foodservice sector.

[Disclosure: AFN’s parent company, AgFunder, is an investor in Nobell Foods.]