Quazy Foods, a Berlin-based biotech startup, has announced an €800K pre-seed funding raise to grow microalgae and develop functional ingredients for plant-based foods and other applications.
ProVeg International, Antler, and Sprout & About Ventures led the round, with additional investment from business angels. In addition to this newly raised capital, Quazy Foods is officially co-funded by the European Union.
With the new funds, Quazy Foods will expand to pilot-stage production and develop the first samples of its microalgae ingredient. Additionally, the startup has announced that it will make key strategic hires for its next growth phase.
Berenike Zimmer, co-founder of Quazy Foods, shared, “Microalgae combine exceptional nutritional profiles with outstanding functional properties, which predestines them as a powerful renewable resource of the future. With Quazy Foods, we want to unleash that potential, now.”
Feeding a growing population
Zimmer and Arvid Seeberg-Elverfeldt established Quazy Foods in late 2021 to develop sustainable alternatives to animal and synthetic ingredients.
On its journey, Quazy Foods has managed to produce high-quality proteins and functional compound ingredients by harnessing biomass fermentation and proprietary microalgae strains.
Microalgae grows more quickly than plants and significantly faster than animals, while fermentation offers numerous sustainability advantages, including less land use and excellent resource efficiency. Leveraging these advantages, Quazy Foods aims to contribute to building a sustainable food system and a healthy planet.
“Microalgae has the potential to be a powerful food ingredient with strong sustainability credentials,” commented Divya Murthy, Co-Head and Investments Lead at ProVeg Incubator.
According to Quazy Foods, its microalgae ingredients will allow F&B companies to offer nutritionally better and entirely new sustainable plant-based products to an ever-growing population.
Frederik Brandis, Associate Director at Antler, stated, “Quazy Foods is building world-class products to address a challenge that will define humanity in the coming decades. Finding new and innovative ways of feeding the global population could transform our eating habits and save the planet in the process.”
