Israeli plant-based protein co Plantopia raises $9m
Israeli startup Plantopia, which developed a platform for producing high-quality proteins via biomolecular agriculture, raised $9 million in a round led by US dairy giant Schreiber Foods. The funds will advance the company to industrial production at a new facility on Kibbutz Sdot Yam. Plantopia has produced all milk proteins identical to the original, lactose-free, and plant-based, including complete casein with all four components.
Israeli startup Plantopia, which has developed a first-of-its-kind platform for producing high-quality proteins through advanced biomolecular agriculture, has completed a $9 million financing round led by US dairy giant Schreiber Foods and with the participation of Siddhi Capital and local investors, Yotvata, Arkin Capital and the foodtech incubator Fresh Start. The new funds, which will allow the company to move forward to the industrial production stage, brings the total raised by Plantopia to date to over $16 million. Plantopia, founded by Prof. Alexander Vainstein, Tal Lutzky and Amir Tiroler, is based on innovative biotechnology developed at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Agriculture, for the production of complex animal components in plants. The company has succeeded in producing all milk proteins identical to the original, lactose-free, at a competitive price and plant-based — a critical step for a supply chain that produces oxygen, not carbon dioxide or methane — and is therefore also considered 100% green. Plantopia is the first and only company in the world to have succeeded in producing complete casein with all four of its components. The technology will be implemented this year in a new factory on Kibbutz Sdot Yam. Unlike other alternative technologies based on fermentation, Plantopia's technology is based on indoor vertical farming of sprouts, produces oxygen, does not require light or special conditions, and is cost-effective.