Plantible Foods lands $35M to scale duckweed protein production

Plantible Foods, a San Diego startup that makes protein from duckweed, has raised $35M to quintuple its manufacturing capacity. The financing splits into $25M of USDA-backed debt from X-Caliber Rural Capital and $10M of equity from RA Capital and existing backer Piva Capital.

At $35M, the round sits in the top third of comparable deals — roughly the 68th percentile — a notable size for an agrifood scaleup. It takes Plantible's total raised to $92M.

Plantible extracts Rubisco, the most abundant protein on Earth, from lemna grown on controlled aquafarms. The protein carries all nine essential amino acids and matches the functionality of egg whites, appealing to manufacturers grappling with egg supply and price volatility.

The company will build up to 50 new greenhouses at its 100-acre aquafarm near Eldorado, Texas, pushing annual capacity past 100,000 tonnes. The cash will also help it fulfil its customer pipeline and enter new markets.

The raise comes six months after Plantible secured a "no questions" letter from the Food and Drug Administration, clearing it to sell its Rubi Protein ingredient to food manufacturers.

Duckweed occupies no farmland, doubles every two to three days, and carries a top PDCAAS score of 1.0. Plantible claims a 70% nutritional yield, above soy (46%), pea (28%), and beef (27%), with a water footprint 10 times lower than soybeans.

"Reducing water consumption and expanding protein production is a holy grail for an industry that is facing consistent constraints on available, healthy protein alternatives," said Maria Buitron, a principal at Piva Capital. Blending government-backed debt with venture equity points to a financing model for capital-intensive food scaleups moving from lab proof to industrial output.