The next generation of dairy: the 3 ‘Ps” about Peas
The third wave of alternative dairy is coming!
By Judith Camarcat
Long gone are the days where plant-based dairy stood for a bitter yellowish soy milk available to a few lactose intolerants or vegan hippies. Fast forward a few years and it would now seem every nut can be milked into a white beverage with a race on to deliver the foamiest of cappuccinos in a market valued over USD 12 Bn in 2019 and set to reach USD 21 Bn by 2026[1]! Yet, just as in every trend, we at Five Seasons believe a third wave is coming, focused on improving the current offer when it comes to:
- Health: the current offer in plant-based dairy alternatives does not match cow’s milk’s nutritional profile. Most alternatives on the market (including popular rice milk and rising oat milk star) are low in protein and high in carb; and protein-rich ubiquitous soy seems to have fallen out of consumer favor.
- Sustainability: although studies show that a glass of dairy milk produces three times more greenhouse gas than any plant-based milk, and consumes nine times more land than any other milk alternatives[2]; not all alternatives are equal. For instance, California almonds[3], the base for the most popular milk substitute, are among the most water-intensive crops (130 pints of water needed to produce a glass)!
Why vly?
Convinced that milk is the right entry point to build an impactful alternative dairy platform, we have been on the lookout for a plant-based milk that could deliver on health, sustainability, and taste.
1. The Pea Product: enabling health without compromising on taste or the planet
After 400 iterations, the R&D team at vly has developed an alternative to milk, made of yellow split pea protein, which rivals cow’s milk in terms of nutrients, taste and functionality. It contains 50% more protein and less sugar than most plant-based milk alternatives we have seen on the market[4], whilst containing as much calcium as cow’s milk (120mg/100ml).
Additionally, pea presents a low allergenicity advantage as it does not belong to the list of 14 most prevalent allergens[5]. This makes it a good dairy alternative to a wide consumer audience, especially compared to nut-based milk which are among the most common allergens.
Neutral in taste, the pea-based white liquid is creamy and foams remarkably well, as over 1,000 online excellent reviews[6] further indicate. It has now become a staple ingredient for cappuccinos and breakfast cereal among the Five Seasons Ventures Team!
A 1L carton of vly’s plant-based milk is manufactured using 15x less CO2, 13x less water and 5x less land compared to cow’s milk. Pea farms, just like beans, lentils and other legumes, are able to fix nitrogen into the soil, thus reducing the pollution from nitrogen fertilizers of aquifers and their impact on the greenhouse effect.
2. The Pea Platform: just getting started with milk…
vly has embarked on a mission to accelerate the transition from animal to plant proteins, and milk is just the beginning. The team intends on innovating across dairy alternatives focusing on healthy everyday product lines. They just launched a chocolate drink and completed significant research in pea protein fermentation in order to commercialize a quark alternative that would rival with the dairy one Nicolas, one of the co-founders, ate everyday as a professional athlete before becoming vegan.
3. The PEAple: common conviction and complementary skills to build a challenger brand
What does “vly” (ˈflaɪ — as in fly but with a v for vegan!) mean you may wonder? It means free, energetic and in the flow.
Through their products and their nascent community, the founders and their marketing team are on a promising path to build a love brand that will resonate with health and climate-conscious millennial consumers, striving for wellbeing through change!
We are proud to back three co-founders who complement each other as far as skills are concerned, share a vision to become the leading European brand for dairy alternatives and rival each other in terms of ambition.
A lawyer by training and former business consultant, Niklas has long yearned to commit himself to his passion for health and nutrition, which he follows at vly by overseeing sales and finance. Passionate vegan and former professional athlete with a Master’s degree in nutrition science, Nicolas oversees marketing and product development at vly. As for Moritz, his background as a former chef in a Michelin restaurant and as a food scientist made him an ideal candidate for Operations & Product Engineering Lead.
As lead investors of their Series A round, whose proceeds will go towards expanding the portfolio and further building the brand, we are ready and excited to embark on this journey to support the vly team [Niklas, Nicolas, Moritz, Justus, Tanith, Anton, Ramona, Polina, Magda, Laura, Marius, Svenja, Julia and Aida] in championing the third wave of dairy alternative. After Alpro led the first soy/ almond wave (acquired by Danone as part of the White Wave acquisition for USD 11.3 Bn) and Oatly (rumored to IPO at a USD 10 Bn valuation) embarked baristas in its second oat-cappuccino wave, Vly is paving the way for an even healthier and more sustainable alternative.
#nomilktoday #wecomeinpeas
[1] Global Market Insights Study, 2020
[2] Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers, University of Oxford, June 2018
[3] Water-indexed benefits and impacts of California almonds, Elsevier, January 2019
[4] 5x more protein than oat-based milk
[5] Allergen guidance for food businesses, UK Food Standards Agency, last updated November 2020
[6] 4.8/5 on Trustpilot based on 1,977 reviews
