Vorwerk Ventures and Blue Horizon Ventures have co-led a series A round for the ETH Zurich spinout selling plant-based meat products.

Planted, a Switzerland-based plant-based meat developer spun out of ETH Zurich, closed a CHF17m ($18.3m) series A round yesterday co-led by Vorwerk Ventures, a corporate venture capital subsidiary of consumer product manufacturer Vorwerk. Foodtech-focused venture capital fund Blue Horizon Ventures co-led the round, which also included the institute’s endowment, ETH Foundation, as well as luxury goods company Gaydoul Group, Good Seed Ventures, Joyance Partners and private investors. Credit Suisse supplied an undisclosed amount of debt financing. Founded in 2019, Planted has developed plant-based meat products that use peas, oat and sunflowers without any additives to closely emulate the taste and texture of chicken, pulled pork and kebab. In addition to ETH Zurich, it also exploits University of St Gallen research. It will use the series A funding to meet international demand, initially focusing on its existing presence in Austria and Germany before entering other European markets, and to drive research and development efforts. Lukas Böni, co-founder of Planted, said: “We will further invest in our structuring and fermentation platforms. Combining structuring technologies with the biochemical toolboxes of natural microorganisms will allow us to create ultimately new products with transformative character — all clean, natural, healthy and tasty.” Michael Kleindl, founder and managing partner of Blue Horizon Ventures, will join Planted’s board of directors. Planted previously obtained $7m from ETH Foundation and vegetarian restaurant Hitl in late 2019, with participation from firm Blue Horizon, Good Seed Ventures, Mica Ventures and Joyance Partners. Find out more about ETH Zurich’s spinouts, including Planted, in our podcast interview with Silvio Bonaccio, head of commercialisation office ETH transfer. – Feature image courtesy of Planted

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Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).