SAN FRANCISCO — Alternative meat producer Planetarians has raised $6 million in a second round of seed funding led by Mindrock, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco.
Groups such as Traction Fund, Techstars, SOSV and ZX Ventures, the corporate venture arm of AB InBev, joined Mindrock in the round. The raised funds will go toward opening a full-scale production plant for the company’s initial commercial agreements.
“While the protein industry was developing new ways of manufacturing that poured money into expensive infrastructure, Planetarians acted from first principles to re-purpose already existing ingredients to create affordable and sustainable meat,” said Ulvi Rashid, head of investments at Mindrock.
Planetarians’ vegan, whole cut meat is made with spent yeast from commercial fermentation facilities and native plant proteins like soy flakes. Each product contains nearly zero fat content and takes only 1/50th the carbon footprint of animal meat to produce, according to data analytics company IAMECON.
The company is aiming its product at institutional foodservice groups seeking affordable and environmentally conscious products, including schools and senior housing.
“We are deeply grateful for the support of Mindrock, AB InBev and the rest of our investors,” said Max Barnthouse, chef and co-founder of Planetarians. “Like many other hard-working entrepreneurs and scientists, we have been trying to discover an alternative protein that hits all the marks. I think we have finally found it.”Enjoying this content? Learn about more disruptive startups on the Food Entrepreneur page.
