May 7, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan

California-based Plantible Foods has raised $4.6 million in Seed funding through a round co-led by Hong-Kong-based Vectr Ventures and New York-based Lerer Hippeau. Additional investors participating in the round included FTW Ventures, and eighteen94 Capital, the venture arm of Kellogg’s. 

Only two years old, Plantible is developing what it calls the “next generation of plant-based food ingredients” by processing the aquatic plant lemna, or what is more commonly known as duckweed.

One of the most sustainable and nutrient-dense plants in the world, lemna doubles its biomass every 36 hours and can be harvested daily on a year-round basis. Additionally, the company stated that its process recycles 95 percent of the water it uses, and the protein created from the plant is 50,000 times more efficient than beef, 400 times more efficient than peas, and 100 times more efficient than soybeans.

Founded in 2018 by co-founders Tony Martens and Maurits van de Ven, Plantible’s main site is a two-acre duckweed farm in San Diego, California.

“At Plantible, we are accelerating the food revolution by creating the next generation of plant-based food ingredients that don’t force consumers to make compromises on taste, nutrition, or price when shifting to a plant-based diet,” said Tony Martens, co-founder, Plantible Foods. “We are extremely excited to welcome this stellar group of investors aboard our journey.”

Through its process, Plantible creates a neutral-tasting, organic, and allergen-free protein powder called RuBisCO, or “Rubi Protein” that has shown itself to be a replacer for egg whites, and can mimic the meat protein myosin, as well as being used in baked goods and in beverages.

“Plant-based protein ingredients are not created equal,” Plantible said Martens. “Food companies need to add a lot of stabilizers to create the desired texture, and sugars, salts and fats to make it taste nice. They lack the nutrition animal-based counterparts have and use funky ingredients people have never really eaten in large volumes before.”

This funding follows upon $500,000 in pre-seed capital raised from the same group of investors, which Martens and van de Ven used to purchase the duckweed farm.  Then, the pair brought on Joe Boutelle, former vice president of product development for Soylent, and a former scientist for both Land O’Lakes and Kraft, according to Bevnet.

Now with this fresh capital, the company plans to accelerate its path to commercialization, with expectations that Rubi Protein will be in the hand of its first customers by the end of this year.

“As momentum in the plant-based protein space continues to grow, there is a massive opportunity to produce a truly distinct and high performing ingredient that addresses the evolving consumer needs,” said Alex Chan, managing partner, Vectr Ventures. “We are very excited to work alongside the Plantible team and a group of likeminded investors to create a new market standard in the plant-based ingredient space.”

Plantible’s business model is novel, and that will serve them well as they enter an increasingly competitive category. With galloping demand driving innovation, the number of companies developing plant-based and alternative protein ingredients is soaring, along with the cadre of investors backing them.

A noted few include:

— Nutriati, which just raised a $12.7 million Series C led by Manna Tree Partners; Clara Foods, which has been working to create egg whites from manipulating yeast;

— Motif Ingredients, which has the might of Ginkgo Bioworks behind it, and has been leveraging biotechnology and fermentation to develop alternative plant-based proteins as well as to engineer proteins derived from eggs, dairy, and meat;

— Nature’s Fynd, (previously called Sustainable Bioproducts) that recently raised an $80 million Series B that began studying microbes living in the volcanic springs of Yellowstone National Park, and went on to the development of an innovative fermentation technology that enables the production of protein that uses 99 percent less land and 87 percent less water than beef;

— And finally, String Bio, an India-based biotech company that leverages synthetic biology, fermentation technology, chemistry, and process engineering via its String Integrated Methane Platform (SIMP) to create next-gen proteins for both the food and feed industries.

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.