Quazy Foods, a Berlin-based biotech startup specializing in cultivating unique microalgae strains for the food industry and other sectors, has raised €800K in a pre-seed funding round.
Investors in this round include ProVeg International, Antler, and Sprout & About Ventures, along with various business angels. The startup has also received support through local and European innovation grants.
Frederik Brandis, Associate Director at Antler, comments, “Quazy Foods is developing top-tier products to tackle a critical challenge facing humanity in the upcoming decades. Innovating in how we feed the world’s population could revolutionize our dietary habits and potentially save the planet.”
“We’re thrilled to support Quazy Foods and are confident in the founders’ ability to mainstream microalgae,” Brandis further states.
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Harnessing Microalgae’s Potential for Human Dietary Needs
The United Nations Environment Programme projects a global population of 10 billion by 2050, necessitating a 56% increase in food consumption. This has spurred the search for plant-based alternatives, with microalgae gaining attention due to its rapid growth rate compared to traditional crops and livestock.
In November 2022, the European Union emphasized the urgency of exploiting algae as a renewable resource in Europe.
Quazy Foods steps into this arena with a mission to meet the rising global food demand by leveraging the nutritional benefits and sustainability of microalgae.
Nixe Zimmer, a co-founder of Quazy Foods, notes, “Microalgae offer both exceptional nutritional profiles and remarkable functional properties, making them a potent renewable resource for the future. Our goal at Quazy Foods is to tap into this potential, starting now.”
The focus of the company is on evolving strains and methodologies to fully utilize microalgae as a viable and efficient source of functional ingredients.
About Quazy Foods
Established in 2021, Quazy Foods is the creation of siblings Berenike (Nixe) Zimmer and Arvid Seeberg-Elverfeldt. With their combined two decades of experience in corporate innovation and finance across both corporate and startup settings, they bring extensive expertise to their enterprise.
The company capitalizes on microalgae as a resource-efficient, health-oriented, and sustainable source of functional ingredients, with potential uses extending beyond the food industry.
Quazy Foods employs biomass fermentation techniques to produce high-quality proteins and functional compounds, boasting “exceptional” land productivity and resource efficiency.
By providing natural, algae-based alternatives to traditional animal-derived or synthetic components, Quazy Foods is positioned to facilitate the development of enhanced or completely new food products, catering to the evolving preferences of modern consumers.
Funding Usage
Quazy Foods intends to allocate the raised funds towards key strategic recruitments and the creation of initial product prototypes. These actions are essential in gearing the startup for the forthcoming pilot phase of its microalgae production.
About the Investors
The ProVeg Incubator is committed to backing startups that are mission-oriented towards plant-based, fermentation, and cell-cultured food products. This incubator has a keen interest in breakthroughs that aim to remove animals from the food supply chain, focusing on alternative food sources and supportive technologies. It particularly targets startups developing alternatives to eggs, seafood, chicken, and other meat and dairy products, striving for the large-scale replacement of animal-based staples.
Antler, a global investor from day zero, is passionate about inspiring, enabling, and investing in visionary founders around the world. The firm is dedicated to removing obstacles to entrepreneurship, championing the creation of sustainable enterprises that solve significant challenges, drive innovation, and improve lives.
Operating in 27 cities across six continents, Antler collaborates with early-stage entrepreneurs, offering comprehensive support from team building and business model validation to initial funding, global expansion, and subsequent investments. Antler has already facilitated the launch of over 800 startups and aims to support upwards of 6,000 by 2030.
