Those Vegan Cowboys spurs crowdfunding drive despite €6.25 million war chest

Those Vegan Cowboys has launched a crowdfunding campaign just months after securing €6.25 million (US$6.9 million) in external funding, with CEO Hille van der Kaa making clear the move was about momentum and movement rather than financial necessity.

Those Vegan Cowboys has launched a crowdfunding campaign following a €6.25 million (US$6.9 million) funding round that the company reported would provide two years of operational runway.

The Ghent-based startup produces animal-free casein using precision fermentation, targeting cheese, chocolate and sports nutrition applications.

The crowdfunding initiative was positioned as a strategy to build a broader shareholder base and accelerate development of multiple caseins and cheese applications in parallel.

“Out here on the frontier, revolutions don’t arrive quietly. They storm in,” van der Kaa wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the campaign. The crowdfunding round was scheduled to open the following Tuesday, with more than 1,800 people already registered on a waiting list for early access.

The announcement came less than two months after Those Vegan Cowboys reported that it had secured €6.25 million (US$6.9 million) in its first external funding round. The company disclosed at the time that the capital would support operations for the next two years as it advanced toward regulatory clearance in the United States and scaled toward commercial deployment.

That round was led by Pieter Geelen, co-founder of navigation technology company TomTom, with participation from Dutch cheese producer Westland Kaas, known for its Old Amsterdam brand, and Wouter Veenboer, co-founder of ad automation platform ProductHero.

In her crowdfunding announcement, van der Kaa stressed that the new raise was not being driven by short-term liquidity concerns. “We are not launching this crowdfunding because we urgently need the money. We closed a strong round at the end of last year, which gives us runway for the next two years. Financially, we are in a solid position,” she wrote.

Instead, she framed the initiative as part of a broader effort to expand the company’s community and accelerate system change. “We are doing this because we want to build a movement. System change doesn’t happen with a handful of founders and investors. It requires allies. New shareholders who become ambassadors. People who don’t just watch the future unfold, but actively help build it.”

Those Vegan Cowboys has focused its strategy on producing casein, the structural milk protein responsible for the melt, stretch and texture of cheese, using microbial fermentation rather than cows. Casein also plays a role in chocolate and sports nutrition products, making it a central target for companies seeking to replicate dairy functionality without animal agriculture.

In December, van der Kaa described the company’s approach succinctly. “Those Vegan Cowboys produces real cheese, without the cow,” she said. “We make casein, the key milk protein, through precision fermentation for use in cheese, chocolate, and sports nutrition. Our mission is simple: to take animals out of the food chain.”

The latest LinkedIn post returned to that theme, using a strong climate framing to position the technology. “Cheese is golden, melting, irresistible. And yet behind every slice sits an industry with a climate footprint larger than all the planes in the sky. Millions of cows. Land and water to feed them. Methane rising like smoke on the horizon,” van der Kaa wrote.

She then posed what she described as a “simple but radical question”: “what if we could keep the cheese & retire the herd?”

Central to the company’s branding is “Margaret,” described as a stainless-steel cow producing casein through precision fermentation. “It’s the story of Margaret, our stainless-steel cow, producing casein through precision fermentation. No methane. No antibiotics. About one-fifth of the land and water,” van der Kaa wrote.

The company reported in December that it was already working with ten industrial partners across Europe on applications ranging from melting mozzarella-style products to semi-hard cheeses. It previously collaborated with Westland Kaas on the plant-based cheese brand WildWestLand, combining product development with early market testing.

At the time of its €6.25 million (US$6.9 million) round, Those Vegan Cowboys indicated that it had made significant progress toward price parity with traditional dairy proteins and was preparing for selected tastings of cheese prototypes in the Netherlands in 2026.

The crowdfunding capital was described as a way to accelerate technical and commercial efforts. “The additional capital will allow us to accelerate: to work on multiple cheeses and multiple caseins in parallel, to move faster and broaden our impact,” van der Kaa wrote.

However, she also emphasized that the campaign carried risk. “At the same time, this is not a paved road. The outlook is promising, but there is still risk out on the prairie. Only invest if you can afford to miss the money.”

The move came amid continued investment into precision fermentation and adjacent food technology sectors across Europe in 2025, despite a more cautious funding environment. In the same period, Porto-based PfX Biotech secured €2.5 million (US$2.8 million) to develop allergy-free human milk proteins, Copenhagen-based SUMM Ingredients raised €1.7 million (US$1.9 million) to accelerate rollout of its fermented protein ingredient, and Netherlands-based Revyve closed a €24 million (US$26.4 million) Series B to scale yeast-derived proteins designed to replace eggs and additives.

Additional fermentation-focused rounds included €4 million (US$4.4 million) raised by Fungu’it to develop fungi-based natural flavorings and €6 million (US$6.6 million) secured by EvodiaBio to scale fermentation-driven flavor technologies. Together, those disclosed rounds represented approximately €38 million (US$41.8 million) invested in fermentation-led food innovation in 2025, excluding the financing secured by Those Vegan Cowboys.

Westland Kaas previously described its participation in the December round as part of a broader commitment to combining tradition with technology. “As Westland Kaas, we have always combined tradition with technology,” Frank Fischer, CFO of Westland Kaas, said at the time. “We continue to invest in innovation to reinvent cheese for future generations. Our investment in Those Vegan Cowboys reflects our commitment to open innovation and next-generation food technologies.”

Founded in 2020 by former The Vegetarian Butcher founders Jaap Korteweg and Niko Koffeman, Those Vegan Cowboys has built its strategy around reconstructing dairy at the protein level rather than reformulating cheese with plant-based blends. “Our casein is more functional and efficient than traditional dairy proteins, which means it can ultimately be produced at a lower cost,” van der Kaa said in December. “A true win-win for both the planet and the market.”

The crowdfunding campaign therefore marked a new phase for the company, shifting part of its capital base from institutional investors toward retail backers. Van der Kaa positioned that shift as cultural as much as financial. “The most important reason is to bring more people into this story,” she wrote.

With regulatory work ongoing, industrial partnerships in place and two years of reported runway secured from its December financing, Those Vegan Cowboys has now opted to test whether public enthusiasm for animal-free dairy proteins can translate into shareholder support.

Whether the campaign ultimately serves primarily as a capital raise, a brand-building exercise or a hybrid of both, it reflected a growing willingness among European food technology companies to treat retail investors not only as sources of funding but as potential advocates for structural change in the food system.