Planetary, a Swiss full-stack fermentation company building the industrial backbone of the bioeconomy, has raised nearly €17 million ($20 million/CHF 16 million) in Series A equity financing, along with €6.3 million ($7.5 million/CHF 6 million) in credit. This brings the total funding to approximately €34 million ($40 million/CHF 32 million).
The round was led by Radikal Capital and Oetker Ventures, with participation from, amongst others, Royal Cosun, arc investors, Green Generation Fund, and AgriFoodTech Venture Alliance, as well as existing investors Astanor Ventures and XAnge.
David Brandes, CEO and co-founder of Planetary, added, “Raising capital outside AI and defence now requires far more focus and resilience than it did just a few years ago. Yet, recent geopolitical turmoil and commodity volatility only strengthen the case for a sovereign, circular, and high-quality food system: stay the course and hold the line, nothing worth building comes straightforward.”
Planetary was founded in 2021 by a group of leading biotechnologists and engineers with a mission to develop biomanufacturing facilities, enabling sustainable bio-based production at an industrial scale. The company builds, owns, and operates a global network of fermentation facilities to produce its bio-based products for its clients at scale.
It operates a proprietary full-stack platform spanning bioprocess design, scale-up and industrial manufacturing via its BioBlocks™ system, enabling partners to bring fermentation-based food ingredients to market efficiently.
The Swiss startup states that it has an IP-rich strategy that involves the global licensing of its technology to agro-industrial players, particularly sugar companies, enabling the conversion of low-value side streams into high-value proteins, fibres, and enzymes.
The company claims to have demonstrated strong commercial traction. Following the nationwide launch of its mycoprotein filet with ALDI Suisse at price parity, the company is now rolling out additional launches across Europe under its B2B brand Libre® across alternative meat and dairy, meat hybrid products, fibre-rich products and protein fortification applications.
The startup is also scaling its sugar-to-protein upcycling technology worldwide, including efforts to achieve ultra-low-cost mycoprotein production below €.85/kg ($1/kg) through collaborations with agro-industrial partners in sucrose-rich, protein-deficient regions like India.
With this funding, the company plans to fuel its global ingredient commercial rollout and technology licensing strategy. Planetary has industrial-scale production already operational in Aarberg, Switzerland and a growing pipeline of licensing partnerships.
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