Perfect Day, a US-based food technology startup that acquired Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech through the liquidation process under the bankruptcy process, is set to invest Rs 957 crore to ramp up production of the company.
Perfect Day counts Singaporean investor Temasek, Horizon Ventures and Disney veteran Bob Iger among its investors.
The Sterling Biotech acquisition, the company says, “will double the company’s production capability in the near-term with the addition of four high-value assets, including two operational manufacturing facilities in Masar, Gujarat—more than returning on Perfect Day’s immediate investment of 1.5x the winning auction price of Rs 638 crore,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mid November, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved Perfect Day's bid of Rs 638 crore after it emerged as the highest bidder to acquire Sterling Biotech against the reserved price of Rs 548.46 crore.
“This strategic acquisition stands to vastly expand our ability to make and sell protein while leveraging our robust technology platform across new ingredient opportunities. Our mission is one driven by collaboration, and we look forward to working closely with Sterling Biotech’s existing customers and employees as we continue to expand our investment in India," said Ryan Pandya, chief executive officer and co-founder of Perfect Day.
The fresh capital infusion will help scale up production that involves manufacturing and exporting animal-free milk protein from Sterling facilities in India. It plans to use existing commercial teams at Sterling to launch commercial operations in India.
Perfect Day’s team in India will now be based in Gujarat, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, with potential additional states in the future as the team grows in India, an important market.
Founded in 2014 by Pandya and Perumal Gandhi, Perfect Day leverages expertise across biology, food innovation and consumer products. In 2020, it debuted with its flagship product, claiming to be world’s first precision-fermented protein, which can be found in animal-free ice creams, cream cheese, baked goods and sports nutrition products across the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The company said it has received approval from the food regulator the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to sell its animal-free milk proteins. The company will shortly be announcing partnership with a major food company, the Economic Times said.