Amsterdam’s plant-based cheese startup Willicroft raises €2M led by Rockstart and PINC

Amsterdam-based Willicroft, a plant-based cheese producer, announced on Tuesday that it has raised €2M in a pre-Seed round of funding. The investment was led by early-stage investor Rockstart and PINC, Paulig’s venture arm. Döhler and Feast Ventures also participated as co-investors.

The startup says it will use the capital to accelerate its growth into new markets such as the UK, Germany and the Nordics.

Planet proof plant-based cheese

Did you know that after beef and lamb, cheese is the 3rd largest emitting product? As consumers are becoming more aware of food’s environmental footprint, the emissions of cheese are often overlooked. Willicroft is looking to address this by producing planet-proof, plant-based alternatives that are just as tasty.

The company claims to be founded as a dairy farm in the UK in 1957, and was relaunched in its re-imagined form as a plant-based cheese company in Amsterdam in 2018. It is the first company in Europe to be awarded a B Corp certification for its production of alternative cheese products, and thus supports this ambition.

Willicroft combines ‘age-old’ techniques with quality plant-based products such as bean and pulses, creating alternatives which are good for consumers and the environment.

Brad Vanstone, co-founder and CEO of Willicroft, says, “Our new bean-based range produces up to 5 times less CO2 than the dairy alternatives it’s replacing. We need holistic solutions to tackle major changes in our food system – having recently secured B Corp status, we believe we’re on track to address these problems at their root cause.”

“With this new raise locked in we’ll be bringing our delicious, beautifully branded range of PBC’s to 3 new markets: the UK, Germany and the Nordics, bringing in senior hires and continuing on our quest to become the world’s first net-positive plant-based cheese company. Our new investor group can help open up a number of new markets whilst also fast-tracking our products’ continued evolution,” adds Vanstone.

About the investors

PINC is Paulig’s venture arm for investments in early-stage foodtech startups in and around the future of food. It aims to help Paulig renew itself and prosper as well as contribute to a tastier and more sustainable planet. Paulig is a Finnish food & beverage company with brands like Paulig coffee, Santa Maria, Risenta, and PocoLoco.

Marika King, Head of PINC, says, “Willicroft is by far the tastiest plant-based cheese range we have come across. It has a more nutritious and sustainable ingredient list than most alternatives available today and a high-powered team with traction in Europe, so we could not be more excited to support this venture.”

Rockstart is a domain-focused accelerator VC firm that provides follow-on growth funding to support the “best” startups to become successful across four domains: energy, health, agrifood, and emerging technologies. The firm invests in early-stage startups and provides access to capital, market, and expertise by connecting founders with co-investors, mentors, partners, corporates and the wider Rockstart network.

Since its inception, Rockstart has invested in more than 260 startups and its alumni value to date is $1B. The company has a team of more than 40+ professionals dedicated to empowering ‘purpose-driven founders to become scalable and drive positive change on a global scale’.

Mark Durno, Managing Partner AgriFood, Rockstart, says, “Willicroft is taking plant-based dairy alternatives to the next level. Alongside making delicious products, they are helping farmers to transition to sustainable production by enabling a local supply chain without the need for monocropping or highly processed ingredients. They have spent the last years understanding their consumers and their footprint, and the next phase will be to put those learnings to scale.”

The AgriFood fund is Rockstart’s first fund launched in 2019 at €22M. Rockstart AgriFood has invested in 34 startups since its launch. Its portfolio companies have collectively raised more than €25M in total so far.