Plantible raises $35m in debt, equity, to increase RuBisCO protein production fivefold

Plantible Foods—a startup extracting RuBisCO, a highly-functional protein from fast-growing aquatic plant lemna (duckweed)—has raised $35 million in debt and equity funding to expand operations at its site in Eldorado, Texas. The funds will enable Plantible to increase annual production capacity for its “Rubi protein” five-fold to over 1,000 metric tons, fulfill its existing customer pipeline, and enter new markets, cofounder and CEO Tony Martens told AgFunderNews. Plant protein that behaves like animal proteinExtracted from lemna, a fast-growing free-floating aquatic plant that grows without pesticides all year round, Plantible’s “Rubi protein” has key advantages over other plant protein sources in that it contains all the essential amino acids with a protein digestibility (PDCAAS) score of 1.0 (equivalent to animal protein). RuBisCO: The holy grail of plant protein? Other players include Fudi Protein, ProLeafEra, Day 8, Brevel, Alfa-Ruby, Rubisco Foods, Lemnapro, and Leaf Protein Company.