Planetary wants to help food startups brew up more fake meat

A new $8 million cash injection from Planetary will be used to build an industrial-scale production facility so that its customers can create and scale their alternative proteins quicker.

The seed round was led by Astanor and followed by a group of investors.

Alternative proteins is a hot space for both startup and venture capital. The companies that Planetary is working with are using precision and biomass techniques to create meat and dairy alternatives. The Good Food Institute reported that the sector raised more money in the year after that.

David Brandes and Ian Marison started Planetary with the goal of creating a global network for both mycelial and microbial precision production.

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Brandes is a second venture in alternative protein. He worked for both McKinsey and P&G before moving to a retailer where he was leading their online business. He started at Peace of Meat in 2019. Meat-Tech acquired it in 2020.

Brandes said that they wanted to provide a sustainable solution to animal mass farming and provide a product that is on a massive industry scale.

Scale is what will make or break a company in the alternative protein space, and many are in the technology or product development phase. The next step for Planetary is to have multiple microbial fermenters that can produce between 200,000 and 500,000 liters of product. originators and brands can go straight into a market without having to have a local presence if the capacity size is made available.

The impact of turbulence and instabilities can be mitigated by the fact that Planetary can grow its own sugars and carbon sources.

Brandes expects to have global coverage by the year 2030 so that Planetary can produce in the region, which will add food security capabilities and make it more sustainable.

Flexibility and cost leadership are often a tradeoff for being a scaling partner.

The first products will be through the facility by the fourth quarter of 2020. The facility will need a year to be built.

Brandes expects the supply chain to change in two years due to the need to feed a global population that will be 9 billion by the year 2050.

The facility and machinery will be further funded at the end of the year, as Planetary prepares to raise another round of funding.

We are looking for manufacturing sites in the U.S.

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