Israel has become the first market in the world where animal-free, dairy-identical milk is launching at commercial scale. Remilk — which has raised more than $150 million — is rolling out its precision-fermented milk nationwide through a joint venture with Gad Dairies, one of Israel’s most established premium dairy producers.
Vegconomist spoke with Ori Cohavi, Co-Founder & CTO of Remilk, and Yochai Maytal, Upstream Bioprocess Lead, about unit economics, consumer taste tests, supply chain realities, the JV strategy, and what this means for the future of the global dairy industry.
For The Full hour interview with additional insights lister to Investor Climate Podcast Episode being released this week on Spotify and Apple.
Q: How close is Remilk’s milk to traditional dairy in taste?
A (Ori): Our benchmark is 3% cow’s milk, and consumers consistently say it tastes identical. In blind tastings, people struggle to tell the difference. Many even prefer it. It has the same mouthfeel, creaminess, and performance: you can cook with it, bake with it, froth it, steam it, and create latte art exactly as you would with cow’s milk.
Q: The milk tastes slightly sweet — but has less sugar. How does that work?
A: Cow’s milk contains about 5% lactose, which is a sugar but not a very sweet one. Because we do not use lactose, we add only a fraction of the sugar and still achieve the same sensory profile. The result: 75% less sugar than cow’s milk, without compromising taste.
Q: What exactly is in the milk? Does it contain casein?
A: We produce beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), the primary whey protein in milk, via precision fermentation. We do not produce casein today, but we’ve engineered the formulation to replicate dairy’s functionality without it. The protein is exceptionally pure and neutral due to a proprietary downstream process that removes all fermentation flavors and odors.
Q: How is Remilk’s milk manufactured at industrial scale today?
A:
• Protein is produced in industrial fermentation facilities
• It is spray-dried into a powder
• Packed in 15 kg bags
• Shipped to a dairy facility in Europe
• Recombined with fats and sugars
• Pasteurized and homogenized into finished milk
• Refrigerated and shipped to Israel for distribution through Gad
In the future, we may consider utilizing production lines in Israel, based on product type, availability of the lines and cost
Q: Why start in Israel before entering the U.S.?
A: Israel offered the fastest, cleanest pathway to market thanks to the opportunity with Gad and the high consumer demand for lactose-free dairy. It also gives us the chance to demonstrate three things:
Taste parity
Industrial-scale manufacturing
Positive unit economics
This will make U.S. partnerships more strategic and more scalable.
Q: What problem are you solving, and who is your target consumer?
A:
• Roughly 70% of Israelis experience some degree of lactose intolerance
• Many consumers feel cow’s milk “upsets the stomach”
• Plant-based alternatives require compromises on taste, texture, and sugar
• Gen Z and Gen Alpha increasingly consider sustainability and climate impact
Remilk is positioned as a new category: dairy-identical products without cows, without lactose, and without compromise.
Q: Are you profitable on the products you’re selling today?
A: Yes. We reached positive gross margins before entering the market. Milk is the hardest product economically, but the broader portfolio — including cream cheese, yogurts, and other high-margin dairy categories — supports a healthy business model.
Q: What products are you launching next?
A:
• Cream cheese
• Yogurts
• Cooking cream
• Whippable cream
• Desserts
• Soft and semi-hard cheeses
Hard cheeses requiring casein are not yet planned.
Q: The cream cheese has received standout reviews. What makes it different from plant-based competitors?
A: It isn’t an imitation — it is cream cheese. Same spreadability, same texture, same culinary performance. No beany notes, no masking agents. And importantly, it also has strong gross margins.
Q: Why form a Joint Venture instead of simply selling ingredients?
A:
Gad specializes in marketing, distribution, and retail execution.
Remilk specializes in protein, fermentation, formulation, and product development.
Together we created a new JV — jointly staffed, jointly funded, and jointly responsible for commercialization.
This is far more than co-branding. It is co-execution, leveraging each side’s strengths.
Q: Why will the JV with Gad succeed where other partnerships, like General Mills’ innovation arm, did not?
A: The General Mills program was discontinued due to internal strategic decisions unrelated to product performance. Gad is the opposite: deeply committed, agile, and involved in weekly tastings, development, and planning. It’s founder-led and fully aligned with our mission.
Q: Do you expect pushback from the traditional dairy industry?
A: Quite the opposite. Remilk already has support from within dairy — including Israel’s largest food and dairy companies.. Traditional dairy companies recognize that precision fermentation is coming, and many prefer to join the transition rather than resist it.
Q: How do allergens and intolerances factor into adoption?
A:
• Safe for lactose-intolerant consumers (contains no lactose)
• Not suitable for consumers with milk-protein allergies (contains BLG)
• A strong fit for Asia, where ~90% of consumers are lactose intolerant
• Remilk already holds regulatory approval in Singapore
Q: What would it take to bring costs below cow’s milk globally?
A: The key is a dedicated large-scale fermentation facility with 1–10 million liter fermentation capacity and purpose-built downstream processing. Whether government-led or privately funded, such a facility would push us into true cost parity — or even cost advantage — over traditional dairy.
Q: What does success look like in Israel?
A: We have defined market-share targets across the dairy category (not the plant-based category). Achieving these targets would allow Remilk to:
• Become profitable in Israel
• Fund platform R&D internally
• Springboard into the U.S. with validated commercial performance
Q: After last year’s board departures, is the company stable?
A: Yes. The departures were related to differences in desired commercialization pace. The board, management team, and partners are now fully aligned. The company is well-capitalized and executing according to plan.
Closing Thoughts
After tasting the milk and cream cheese, the interviewer concluded:
“I’ve tasted a lot of frogs in food tech. This is the real deal.”
With industrial-scale production, positive unit economics, and a unique JV model with a major dairy player, Remilk’s launch in Israel may be the first true demonstration that precision-fermented dairy can compete on taste, economics, and scale — and help build a more resilient global food system.
Interview Conducted By: Alex Shandrovsky
Alex Shandrovsky is a global food-tech strategist, investor-relations lead at Ayana Bio, a plant cell culture leader focused on security at risk specialty crops. He is also the host of The Investor Climate Podcast. His podcast highlights agrifood-tech founders who have raised capital in the last six months, offering real-time insights into fundraising, scaling, and commercialization.