Bio-engineers Ryan Pandya, Perumal Gandhi and Isha Datar founded Muufri in 2014.
By Raghavendra M
Follow @ambazaarmag
A Silicon Valley startup founded by a group of Indian American entrepreneurs has won a Dutch sustainability innovation prize of 200,000 euros.
Ryan Pandya of Muufri, which produces artificial milk, won the runner-up prize of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge 2015, a largest annual international competition in the field of sustainability innovation.
Muufri makes milk without using cows and its unique process for “brewing” milk could eliminate vast amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that are being generated by commercial dairy farming, said a statement by Dutch Postcode Lottery.
Muufri has identified the necessary proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals found in dairy products to blend the milk of the future. A preliminary life-cycle assessment indicates that Muufri’s technique generates 35 to 65 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than dairy farming, it said.
Bio-engineers Ryan Pandya, Perumal Gandhi and Isha Datar founded Muufri in 2014 with a purpose of reducing the dependence on animals for milk.
Jurriaan Ruys (47), co-founder of the Dutch start-up Land Life Company, won the first prize of 500,000 Euros for technology for nature restoration.
An international jury chaired by Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer of multinational IKEA Group, gave the awards.