Dutch startup Time-Travelling Milkman, which uses sunflower seeds to replace dairy fats, has raised €2M ($2.3M) to support the launch of next-gen cream cheeses and desserts.
Continuing what has been a bumper week for sustainable fat alternatives, Time-Travelling Milkman has secured €2M ($2.3M) in pre-Series A funding for its sunflower-seed-based ingredient.
The investment round saw two new backers in Sparkalis (the venture arm of chocolate giant Puratos) and Evercurious, with participation from existing shareholder Oost NL. It takes the startup’s total raised to over $3.9M.
The fresh capital will enable the Dutch firm to commercialise its Oleocream ingredient in the coming months, starting with cream cheeses and desserts that ditch the dairy.
“For the protein transition to succeed, tasty and delicious dairy alternatives are a necessity,” said Jos Putker, investment manager for food at Oost NL. “With Oleocream, Time-Travelling Milkman has an innovative solution that contributes to more appealing alternatives.”
Sparkalis managing director Filip Arnaut added: ”We are proud to support visionary startups like Time-Travelling Milkman, whose disruptive fat ingredient technology is reimagining the future of food. Their sustainable, plant-based innovation aligns perfectly with our mission to accelerate the transition toward a more responsible and resilient food system.”
Time-Travelling Milkman bets on olesomes to replace dairy fats
Time-Travelling Milkman was founded by Dimitris Karefyllakis and Saskia Tersteeg in 2020 as a spin-off of Wageningen University, after developing a fat-producing process that uses only sunflower seeds and water.
The patented method preserves the seeds’ naturally occurring oleosomes. These are microdroplets for oil storage that are surrounded by a layer of phospholipids and proteins to keep the oil stable during emulsions. Instead of disrupting oleosomes to produce liquid oil, the startup keeps these oil bodies intact during extraction, which has been linked to lower processing levels and resistance to digestion.
Olesomes offer a stronger emulsion than man-made alternatives while delivering a creamy texture similar to dairy fats, making them an ideal clean-label ingredient to enhance the texture of plant-based barista milks, non-dairy ice cream and cheeses, sauces, and even meat alternatives (including blended meat).
Time-Travelling Milkman’s Oleocream is free from allergens and rich in unsaturated fats, while being highly compatible with high-heat, fermentation, and low-acidity applications.
According to the startup, the ingredient is poised for commercial success thanks to Europeans’ shift away from processed foods – two in five consumers actively avoid these products. And among people who want to make changes to their diet, 60% are looking to reduce their intake of processed foods.
Additionally, Oleocream can help companies move away from unsustainable tropical fats like palm and coconut oil, which are widely used in the plant-based food industry – the latter is a common base ingredient in vegan cheese, for example.
These fats are linked to large-scale tropical deforestation, wildfires, and threats to Indigenous populations and wildlife. Within the EU, the upcoming deforestation regulation will ban the import of products with deforestation-linked palm oil, putting manufacturers in a scramble for cheap and effective alternatives.
Time-Travelling Milkman claims its zero-waste production process helps Oleocream replicate the texture and functionality of dairy cream with 80% fewer emissions and a fraction of the cost.
First products with Oleocream set to roll out soon
The funding will help the firm accelerate commercial trials (which are already underway), support customer launches, and expand partnerships. These efforts will be helped by the fact that its fat alternative is plant-based and does not require regulatory approval.
“We’re seizing a rare opportunity in a sector where both investments and sales have stalled,” said Karefyllakis, who is the managing director. “After years of optimisation and scaling, we’re ready to deliver Oleocream at commercial volumes, efficiently, consistently, and affordably.”
Time-Travelling Milkman’s production is set to be scaled to 1,000 tonnes a year, enabling it to supply commercial volumes of Oleocream to both the plant-based and dairy sectors. The startup says its sunflower seed ingredient is well-suited for hybrid products that combine cow’s milk with plants – the Netherlands is already at the forefront of this shift, with Albert Heijn releasing two blended milk SKUs this year.
Moreover, the Wageningen firm is aiming to launch its next-generation breakfast spreads and desserts in the coming months. These cream cheeses and sweet treats have undergone several pilot trials and consumer panels, and feature “significantly shorter, cleaner, and healthier ingredient lists”, free from stabilisers or tropical fats.
Time-Travelling Milkman is also working on two other products: SunfloPro is a minimally processed protein-rich texturiser, and SunPulp is a fibre-rich ingredient that makes foods thicker and creamier. Plus, it’s part of an R&D project funded by the Utrecht province to develop Oleocream-enriched meat alternatives with Rival Foods and We’re Smart World.
Its raise comes amid a flurry of developments in the alternative fat space. This week, Singapore’s Terra Oleo secured $3.1M to scale up production of its waste-derived precision-fermented palm oil and cocoa butter substitutes
A day earlier, Dutch producer NoPalm Ingredients signed a deal with dairy giant Milcobel to use its whey permeate as a fermentation feedstock for its palm oil alternatives. It will also explore the feasibility of co-locating its first commercial-scale factory at the latter’s site in Langemark.
Also this month, British firm Clean Food Group received regulatory approval in the US, EU and UK to sell its yeast-derived oil in cosmetic applications, and Estonia’s Äio completed a one-tonne production run for its palm oil substitute, eyeing market entry by year-end.
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