Investment data for alternative proteins indicates growth but need improved financing
According to the most recent investment statistics, privately held European businesses engaged in fermentation, cultured meat, and plant-based food development raised around $509 million (€470 million) in 2024, a 23% increase from the year before.
In addition to this investment, alternative protein companies brought in $68 million (€63 million) through grants from organisations such as public entities – a 137% increase from the previous year.
According to GFI Europe, this development marks a significant trend as governments begin to recognise the role that protein diversification can play in contributing to food security, and as start-ups begin to shift away from relying on the venture capital that was associated with the sector’s rapid expansion earlier this decade.
Helene Grosshans, infrastructure investment manager said: “Net zero insights (NZI) figures, analysed by the Good Food Institute (GFI) and included in our latest State Of The Industry reports, reveal that companies developing animal-free foods and ingredients using innovative fermentation techniques continued to attract record investments last year.”
Those working on precision fermentation, which uses organisms such as yeast to develop ingredients bringing the familiar flavour and texture of foods like meat, eggs and cheese to plant-based products, raised $130 million (€120 million) from investors in 2024 – more than three times as much as in the previous year.
Europe’s biomass fermentation companies – which use a process similar to beer or yogurt production to grow large amounts of protein very quickly, such as growing mycoprotein from fungi – raised $129 million (€119 million), a 10% increase.
Large public funding bodies contributed many of last year’s largest investments in fermentation.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) – established under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme – supported a $58 million (€54 million) funding round enabling Germany’s Infinite Roots to expand its production capabilities and prepare for commercial launch. EIC also invested $15.4 million (€14.8 million) in Spanish start-up MOA Foodtech, while the French government and public investment bank Bpifrance funded Standing Ovation to scale up precision fermentation-made casein.
Interest seems to be continuing into 2025, with Germany’s Formo announcing it had received a $36 million (€35 million) venture loan from the European Investment Bank, and Dutch start-up Vivici securing $33.7 million (€32.5 million), in part to establish long-term manufacturing capabilities.
Europe’s plant-based food sector’s fundraising in 2023 was driven mainly by significant investments in publicly traded companies. Most prominently, Swedish plant-based dairy company Oatly secured $425 million (€391 million) across two large deals.
Grosshans added: “Taking these funding rounds into account creates a misleading impression that the whole sector saw a dip in funding in 2024. However, GFI noted that when excluding these outlier deals and focusing on the privately-held companies the make-up most of the plant-based ecosystem, European investment rose by 37% to $181 million (€167 million).”
Innovative companies working in this space are continuing to see the results of their R&I work pay off.
Spain’s Heura received $43 million (€40 million), helping it develop products that more closely match consumers’ expectations on taste and nutrition, France’s La Vie raised $27 million (€25 million) to improve its plant-based pork and develop new products, and the UK’s THIS received $25.5 million (€23.5 million) to expand its product range.
GFI’s State of the Industry Report covering the global plant-based sector also highlights that Europe is the world’s largest market for these foods. Euromonitor data covering the region suggests retail sales of plant-based meat, seafood, milk, yogurt and ice cream were worth $9.7 billion (€8.9 billion) in 2024.
Figures related to European companies developing cultivated meat products and ingredients were also skewed by large deals in 2023, contributing to an overall 59% decline in funding to $52 million (€48 million) in 2024.
Grosshans noted that many of the companies that saw large funding rounds last year were focused on preparing for market entry, such as the Netherlands’ Mosa Meat, which raised $42.9 million (€40 million), while Meatable secured $8.4 million (€7.6 million) from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
“It’s positive to see a strong theme of commercialisation running through the latest alternative protein investments, but for Europe’s sector to meet its true potential, it must diversify its funding sources,” Grosshans observed.
Europe lacks the infrastructure needed to scale-up production of alternative proteins, and building a demo or commercial-scale facility can cost between €15 million and €250 million – an unrealistic target for start-ups to raise from venture capital.
Grosshans believes to reap the benefits that protein diversification can offer Europe, governments and organisations such as philanthropic foundations should develop a range of finance mechanisms to support this growing ecosystem.
