New investors for Planted: Vorwerk and a professional footballer

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

Perhaps a non-meat eater or two has spotted Planted in the supermarket. The Swiss start-up makes plant-based meat substitutes, has now raised $18 million in a Series A round. The money will be invested in research and development of new products, in addition to conquering new markets outside Central Europe.

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

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

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