Opalia Announces Strategic Commercial Agreement with Hoogwegt to Create World’s First Cell-Based Dairy Products
Montreal, Quebec – August 5, 2025 – Opalia, a leader in cell-based dairy manufacturing, today announced a new strategic commercial agreement with Hoogwegt, one of the world’s largest privately held dairy ingredient providers. This first-ever cell-based dairy sales marks a major milestone for both Opalia’s scale-up and commercialization plans and the global cell-based dairy industry.
The commercial agreement for the next two years (2026-2027) is to create the world’s first cell-based dairy products and showcase Opalia’s cell-based milk products’ versatility and global opportunity. The collaboration combines Opalia’s proprietary sustainable cell-based dairy manufacturing technology with Hoogwegt’s dairy products and global markets expertise covering more than130 countries and six continents.
Founded in 2020, Opalia has been establishing itself as a leader in the cell-based dairy industry with its efforts to achieve cost parity by eliminating FBS from its process, attracting several LOIs from large food and dairy corporates, and raising a total of 3 million from Hoogwegt, Big Idea Ventures, and Sustainable Food Ventures amongst others.
"Hoogwegt’s purchase order to support Opalia’s development of the world’s first cell-based dairy development reflects their trust and commitment in our pioneering technology.", said Opalia’s CEO, Jennifer Côté. "Hoogwegt’s proven expertise in dairy product development and global dairy markets, as well as their commitment to sustainability, aligns perfectly with our strategic goals, and we are confident that this purchase order will allow us to commercialize the world’s first cell-based dairy products.”
Sander Hulsebos, CEO of Hoogwegt comments: After already having invested in Opalia, this commercial purchase agreement between Opalia and Hoogwegt is a next major step towards establishing Opalia as a strategic supplier of cell-based milk in Hoogwegt’s future sustainable dairy supply chain.
Opalia is actively working with regulatory agencies to showcase its cell-based dairy products at tasting events as it prepares for scaling and commercialization. Opalia is interested to meet with commercial partners and investors who are eager to decarbonize their supply chain and to be part of the next chapter in sustainable food innovation.
For more information, reach out to Opalia at hello@opaliafoods.com
About Opalia:
Opalia is leading the world’s transition to a more sustainable food system, starting with cell-based dairy products that don’t compromise on quality. Their patent-pending technology allows them to produce real milk without cows containing all the components of traditional milk (proteins, fats, and sugars) allowing them to develop a range of products like butter, cream, cheese, yogurts, and more. Targeting B2B applications, Opalia’s technology will provide its clients with a cost-effective, scalable, and sustainable alternative to manufacture dairy products.
About Hoogwegt:
Founded in the Netherlands in 1965, Hoogwegt has grown to become the world’s largest independent supplier of dairy products and ingredients, active in over 130 countries. Thanks to their global network, 60 years of experience, and a team of commercial, technical, and logistics experts, they add vision and value to businesses by providing high-quality products, real-time market intelligence, smart logistics services, and tailor-made risk management solutions.