Project Eaden expands seed funding

The investors are giving their money for the company's fiber technology, which turns plants into a meat substitute. Now the start-up wants to set up a production line.

The Berlin-based foodtech project Eaden is expanding its seed funding to 10.1 million euros. The start-up announced the completion of its original seed round of eight million euros back in June 2022. At that time, Atlantic Food Labs, Shio Capital, Trellis Road and various business angels such as Godo Rüben, the former CEO of Rügenwalder, among others, participated. Magnetic and Atlantic Food Labs topped up this round by 2.1 million euros in December, as the start-up has now announced.

Project Eaden intends to use the funding primarily to further develop its own fiber technology and set up an initial prototype production line. The start-up wants to revolutionize the meat substitute market. The Project Eaden technology first produces fibers from edible proteins with similar properties to meat. The next step is to replicate the texture and appearance of animal meat, says the company. Synthetic fibers have already been successfully tested in the textile and automotive industries. On this basis, the foodtech wants to produce realistic, plant-based meat at low cost. Project Eaden plans to market its first product, a steak made from plants, in 2023.

Material scientist David Schmelzeisen, Mymuesli founder Hubertus Bessau and former Zalando manager Jan Wilmking founded Project Eaden at the beginning of 2022. "We have hired a highly motivated team of tissue engineers, food technologists, material scientists and culinary experts," says Wilmking. "We will build on this and develop our proprietary technology to market maturity."