Planet FoodsThe B2B sustainable ingredients company announced $15.4 million in Series A funding.
The founding brother and sister team of Drs. Max and Sarah Marquardt have set up a Munich-based company to create a sustainable alternative to cocoa. When TechCrunch initially wrote about the company in 2021, it was called QOA.
The idea behind the name change was that “there is no Planet B,” due to climate change and other environmental threats to the cocoa production industry, Max Marquardt told TechCrunch.
“We have to pay attention so that our land survives,” he said.
Climate problems have led to… Chocolate prices reach their highest levels in 45 years in 2023, with cocoa bean futures trading at $4,362 per ton, up 84% from 2022. This comes amid Global chocolate confectionery industry It is expected to grow by 5.6% annually until 2028.
Planet A Foods uses fermentation technology to transform all-natural, locally sourced ingredients – for example, oats and sunflower seeds – into ChoViva cocoa-free chocolate. The product features a melt-in-the-mouth texture and full milk chocolate flavor, semi-sweet and white varieties. The product can be used in everything from baking to ice cream and contains up to 30% less sugar.
“I always say we want to be the ‘next generation Cargill’ and a high-tech food ingredients company that provides sustainable food ingredients to the industry,” Marquardt said.
The company’s customer base includes food manufacturers Griesson-de Beukelaer and Peter Kölln and the airline Lufthansa. Last year, the company also launched several products with German retailer REWE, while chocolate company Lindt recently launched a vegan chocolate product containing ChoViva.
Marquardt expects to achieve eight-figure revenues by the end of 2024 as Planet A Foods plans international expansion for ChoViva, starting with the UK, followed by other European markets, Asia and the US. The company will also expand its brewing platform to include other plant-based ingredients with more products expected to launch in the first quarter of 2024.
He intends to use the new capital to recruit additional scientists to join the 50-person Planet A Foods team in Germany in order to scale up the production of cocoa butter and palm oil substitutes to an industrial level. It has already scaled up production at its facilities to produce 750kg of ChoViva per hour.
Meanwhile, World Fund led the first round of funding with participation from an investor group that included Omnes Capital, Cherry Ventures, Mudcake, Nucleus Capital, Triple Point Capital, and Feast Ventures.
“Sarah, Max and the team have created the right product to address the large-scale climate impact of cocoa,” Daria Saharova, managing partner at the Global Fund, said in a statement. “Within three years, they have turned a proof of concept into a shelf-ready product, and forged partnerships with global giants. The fact that this Series A funding round was oversubscribed despite the broader downturn in food technology investment is a testament to their success.”