New investors for Planted: Vorwerk and a professional soccer player

Meat substitutes have been a trend for years: the Swiss start-up Planted is also dedicated to meat alternatives. It was able to raise 18 million dollars in a recent financing round.

Some non-meat eaters may have already spotted the company Planted in the supermarket. The Swiss start-up produces plant-based meat substitutes and has now raised 18 million dollars in a Series A round. The money will be invested in the research and development of new products, and new markets outside of Central Europe are also to be conquered.

"We are looking forward to using the current financing to strengthen our international presence, expand our product range and extend our partner network," says co-founder Pascal Bieri from Planted.

The investors are Vorwerk Ventures and Blue Horizon Ventures. The Swiss professional footballer Yann Sommer, who has been under contract with Borussia Mönchengladbach since 2014, is also involved. In addition, Swiss entrepreneur Stephan Schmidheiny, Good Seed Ventures, the Gaydoul Group, the ETH Zurich Foundation and Joyance Partners. A package of debt financing comes from Credit Suisse.

The start-up is a spin-off from ETH Zurich and its products have been available to buy since 2019. Planted works primarily with supermarkets; in Germany, the products can be found at Edeka. So far, the Planted range can be purchased in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. At the end of 2019, Planted raised seven million Swiss francs in a seed round.