Bold Cultr, an animal-free cream cheese venture backed by General Mills, announced that it would shut down after the Golden-Valley-based food giant pulled funding a month after planning to shelve the new product in stores.
“Dear fans and customers, with a heavy heart, we want to let you know that we are closing our doors as of February 27, 2023,” the announcement stated.
Food Navigator reported in January that General Mills was planning to roll out the startup to more stores in the Minneapolis area and be sold nationwide by early February.
General Mills' corporate venture studio, G-Works, introduced Bold Cultr in late 2021 and has sold the startup product in a handful of Minnesota stores since its launch. According to Bold Cultr, G-Works "regularly reviews its innovation portfolio and evaluates investment decisions," and that "the difficult decision was made to deprioritize funding for Bold Cultr."
Bold Cultr is made from milk proteins using a process called precision fermentation to produce a functionally identical protein to that of dairy made from animals. Similar products are Cowabunga from Nestle, CO2COA from Mars and Nurishh from Bel Brands. Bold Cultr originally used fungi-based proteins made by California-based vegan dairy maker, Perfect Day, but had recently switched to a new partnership with Israeli-based Remilk, which uses yeast instead of fungi.
Bold Cultr was started by three co-founders, Drake Ellingboe, Laura Engstrom and Illeme Amegatcher.
“Many of the consumers we talked to want to be animal-free but cheese is holding them back – the alternatives aren’t doing what consumers want them to," said Engstrom when Bold Cultr first launched with General Mills (NYSE: GIS).
