Bob Iger, the chairman and former chief executive at Walt Disney, is trading his mouse ears for milk substitutes as the new director of massively funded dairy replacement startup Perfect Day.
Milk substitutes are a $1 trillion category and Perfect Day is angling to be the leader in the market. Iger’s ascension to a director position at the company just affirms that Perfect Day is a big business in the big business of making milk replacements.
Unlike almond milk or soy milk companies, Perfect Day is angling to be a direct replacement for bovine dairy using a protein cultivated from mushrooms.
The move comes as Perfect Day ramps up its development of consumer products on its own, and through investments in startups like the Urgent Company. That’s the consumer food company Perfect Day backed to commercialize technologies and create more sustainable food brands.
Brave Robot ice cream launches as the first brand from the Perfect Day-backed Urgent Company
For Iger, the Perfect Day board represents the first new board seat the longtime entertainment powerbroker has taken since he left Apple.
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“Innovation and leadership are both key to world changing ideas,” said Iger, in a statement. “Perfect Day has established both innovation in its use of technology and novel approach to fighting climate change, and clear leadership in building a category with a multi-year head start in the industry they’re helping to build. I’m thrilled to join at this pivotal moment and support the company’s swift growth into new categories and markets.”
Iger joins Perfect Day’s co-founders Ryan Pandya and Perumal Gandhi, and representatives from the company’s international backers and lead investors, Aftab Mathur from Temasek Holdings, and Patrick Zhang of Horizons Ventures.
Until yesterday, Perfect Day was the most well-capitalized protein fermentation company focused on dairy in the world. That’s when Impossible Foods, the alternative meat manufacturer, which has raised $1.5 billion from investors, unveiled that it, too, was working on a dairy product.
Perfect Day, by contrast, has raised $360 million in total funding to date.
“We’re thrilled to have Bob Iger join our team, and are confident his tenured operational expertise and visionary leadership style will further help us scale our ambitions,” said Ryan Pandya, the chief executive and co-founder of Perfect Day, in a statement. “We’re focused on rapid commercialization in the U.S. and globally. But we know we can’t do it alone. That’s why we’re excited and humbled to have a proven leader like Bob to help us thoughtfully transform our purpose-driven aspirations into tangible and sustainable impact.”
Looking Beyond Meat, the future of food investment looks pretty cheesy
