L Catterton backs plant meat scaleup [Private Equity Insights]

Consumer-focused private equity major L Catterton has bought into Swiss foodtech startup Planted, which is aiming to create plant-based meat which tastes better than the meat from animals.

L Catterton led the €72m Series B round for Planted, which said it would use the funds to launch its new whole-cut line of products including its chicken breast, further its international expansion and increase production capacity.

Planted produces meat from alternative proteins such as peas, oats and sunflowers, through a biostructuring approach which combines protein structuring and fermentation.

Existing investors including Vorwerk Ventures, re:food, Movendo, Be8 Ventures, ACE, ETH Foundation and Yann Sommer also took part in the investment round.

Planted co-founder Christoph Jenny said, “Current plant-based meat technologies and solutions are not able to replace more than 1% to 3% of meat consumption, and therefore are not having the required impact on our food system.

“Consumers argue that this is due to a lack of taste, an overall unattractive price, and questionable ingredients.

“For meat-eaters to make a switch, it is crucial that we create ‘better meat than animals’ – meaning better taste, price, lower environmental impact, good ingredients, and healthiness. It is these parameters that are always at our focus.”

L Catterton was in sight of its $4bn goal for its L Catterton IX raise in late 2020, but is yet to announce a final close for the fund.

The firm has more than $33bn of equity capital across its funds.

Earlier this summer the firm launched a new private credit platform, bringing in industry veteran Shahab Rashid to jointly lead the unit.

Source: Alt Assets