Plantible Foods Raises $30M Series B
San Diego-based food startup reportedly has tens of millions of dollars in contracts
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Plantible Foods, a San Diego-based company that produces plant-based proteins for the food industry, has raised $30 million in Series B funding.
The venture capital funding round was co-led by San Francisco-based Piva Capital and Siddhi Capital, a Philadelphia-based growth equity firm actively investing in the food and beverage space.
“At Plantible, we are not simply competing with other proteins; we are setting a new standard for the industry by providing a product that offers superior functional and nutritional properties,” said Tony Martens, Co-founder and CEO of Plantible.
The fresh capital comes roughly three years after it raised a $27 million Series A round. I profiled the under-the-radar food startup in the San Diego Business Journal when it raised a $4.6 million seed round back in 2020.
In October, the Plantible Foods team hosted me back at their headquarters in San Marcos, where the CEO shared what the company is up to next.
High-Level Overview
Founded in 2016, Plantible Foods is a food technology company co-founded by Tony Martens and Maurits van de Ven.
Plantible uses its proprietary agricultural platform to produce the “Rubi Protein,” a sustainable protein derived from Lemna (also known as duckweed).
It has raised over $70 million from investors including Piva Capital, Siddhi Capital, Betagro Ventures, Cultivate Next, Nourish Ventures and Astanor Ventures, among others.
The company is headquartered in San Marcos and has 40 employees.
Founding Story
Founded in 2016, Plantible Foods mission is to improve the global food supply chain.
Plantible uses its proprietary agricultural platform to produce Rubi Protein, a sustainable protein derived from Lemna (duckweed), which offers superior functional and nutritional benefits compared to traditional proteins.
“We first identified molecules in nature that outperform what we’re using today, from a health and food formulation perspective. Then we figured out the most sustainable and scalable supply chain to produce it,” said CEO Tony Martens.
Today it is working with dozens of food companies, helping them increase product quality and reduce cost within their supply chain.
“The U.S. food industry, it’s one of the few industries where people don’t want to make progress — they would rather keep it the way it is.
If you think about it, we still grow the same plants as we did 400 years ago and have primarily been focused on optimizing them.
We realized many of the U.S. health issues stem from food choices and agricultural system, and it was time for us to start helping make the change.”
Looking Ahead
Plantible Foods headquarters and pilot facility remains in San Marcos, which serves as its research and development hub.
It also operates a larger-scale processing facility in Texas and is planning to open additional facilities in regions that heavily rely on imported food.
“The investment will enable Plantible to expand its manufacturing operations at its first commercial plant,” according to Tony Martens.
As of today, company has tens of millions of dollars in contracts and has the backing from Chipotle and Kellogg, among major food corporations.
“Our company is positioned to deliver on its multi-million dollar offtake agreements with several large food companies and aim to increase its revenue tenfold over the next 12 months.”