This Stinks! Fermented Vegan Cheese Maker Plonts Stretches Budget with $12M Seed Investment

Plonts, a Californian startup formerly known as Tezza Foods, has secured a $12 million seed investment to launch its fermented soy milk cheese in select restaurants in New York City and San Francisco. Founded by Nathaniel Chu and Josh Moser in 2019, the company aims to create vegan cheese using microbial fermentation with soybeans, emphasizing sustainability and efficiency. Plonts' aged Cheddar cheese offers 3g of protein per slice and a firmer, creamier texture while using soybeans as a more cost-effective and resource-efficient alternative to traditional dairy cheese.

With a focus on creating complex flavors and textures through a blend of cultures and enzymes, Plonts aims to differentiate itself in the competitive plant-based cheese market by offering a product that is both flavorful and affordable. By harnessing microbes to transform cost-competitive ingredients like soybeans into a delicious vegan cheese, the company believes it can lower costs to less than half of traditional dairy cheese. By utilizing soy as a sustainable protein source, Plonts is positioned to challenge the status quo in the plant-based cheese industry.