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French ingredient company Verley has raised $38 million in an oversubscribed Series A round to expand production of precision-fermented whey proteins and enter the US market, just four years after its founding.
The round was led by Alven, with new investors Blast and Bpifrance participating through the French Tech Seed fund under the France 2030 programme. Existing investors Sofinnova Partners, Sparkfood, Captech and Founders Future also joined the round. Verley will also receive additional non-dilutive support from Bpifrance.
The funding comes amid growing global demand for protein ingredients. The protein market reached $31.8 billion in 2025 and continues to expand, driven by population growth, changing dietary habits and rising use of GLP-1 weight-loss treatments, which are increasing the need for high-quality, digestible protein. Conventional whey production faces structural constraints and environmental pressures, limiting its ability to scale sustainably.
Verley produces beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), a functional whey protein, using precision fermentation. The company’s ingredients are designed to integrate into existing food manufacturing processes while using far fewer natural resources than conventional dairy production.
Operating solely in the B2B ingredients sector, Verley supplies manufacturers developing high-protein, clean-label, and easily digestible products. Its FermWhey portfolio targets applications such as protein shots and ready-to-drink beverages, offering high purity, solubility, emulsification, gelling properties and optimized nutritional profiles.
Since its founding, Verley has moved from technological validation to industrial readiness. The company achieved self-affirmed GRAS status in 2024 and received a U.S. Food and Drug Administration “no questions” letter in 2025, confirming the safety of its proteins for the US market.
Verley has also built a strong intellectual property portfolio covering both fermentation processes and proprietary protein functionalisation technologies designed to enhance performance beyond conventional dairy proteins.
Demand for Verley’s ingredients already exceeds current production capacity. The Series A proceeds will fund US commercial deployment, customer scale-up, and expanded production, alongside continued research and development. After the US launch, Europe and the Middle East will be priority expansion regions.
Stéphane Mac Millan, CEO and co-founder of Verley, said: “Verley’s mission is to address the growing global demand for high-quality nutrition while preserving the planet’s natural resources. Verley is now ready to help alleviate the pressure the dairy industry is facing. We are very proud to be building a European champion leveraging decades of know-how in the dairy industry.”
Hélène Briand, co-founder and chief innovation & commercial officer, added: “This financing allows us to scale not only our production, but the performance promise behind our ingredients. Our functionalisation technologies are designed to meet real industrial constraints and application needs. That focus on performance is what makes precision fermentation relevant and viable at scale.”
