MicroHarvest raises €8.5M and plans to invest in Portugal

  • ECO News
  • 20 September 2022

The startup plans to build a pilot plant for protein production in Lisbon and hire more than ten people in Portugal by the end of this year.

The German biotech startup MicroHarvest has received €8.5 million in Series A investment. With a Portuguese co-founder, the Hamburg-based company plans to open a pilot plant in Lisbon in 2023 and hire over ten people on national soil by the end of this year.

Led by impact venture capital firm Astanor Ventures and Happiness Capital, the investment round also saw participation from Portuguese venture capital firm Faber and FoodLabs, which had previously bet on the German tech.

“At MicroHarvest, we are committed to creating a world where everyone has access to nutritious food through a fair and resilient system,” says the startup’s co-founder and CEO, Katelijne Bekers.

In 2022, two more co-founders joined MicroHarvest, Jonathan Roberz and Portuguese Luísa Cruz. The national footprint of the company and the injection of capital led to the opening of a subsidiary in Portugal and will lead to the construction of a pilot factory in Lisbon. The main objective is to enter the market in 2023.