Heura Foods raises funds to finance its ambitious growth project. The Barcelona-based company, which produces 100% plant-based products that imitate chicken or beef, has raised four million euros in less than 24 hours through a crowdfunding campaign and has brought footballers such as Saúl Ñíguez, Cesc Fàbregas, Borja Iglesias, Sergi Roberto and the British AS Roma player Chris Smalling into its capital.
With this investment, these elite athletes join the international craze for plant protein and all alternatives to meat consumption, a phenomenon that is no longer solely linked to vegan consumers, but to an increasingly broad segment of citizens who prefer to reduce meat consumption in their diet for health reasons or to reduce the environmental impact of the global meat industry.
More than 3,000 investors have participated in this four-million-euro round: 49% are young people between 18 and 30 years old and 35% are between 31 and 40 years old. All of them and the five footballers join Heura's shareholding, which also includes international funds such as New Crop Capital (USA), Green Monday (Hong Kong), Kale United (Sweden) and Tech Transfer Agrifood (Spain). In addition, investors such as Glovo founder, Oscar Pierre, and Belgian Michiel van Deursen are partners in the company.
Heura has been classified as one of the fastest-growing startups in Europe, with an increase of close to 500% in the last year. Its plant-based products that imitate meat can now be purchased in supermarkets in 16 countries ---such as Spain, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Egypt, the Netherlands, Canada or France---, although Heura also has restaurants as one of its main business lines.
"There is still a lot of work ahead to build the ethical and sustainable food system we want, but having the support of Good Rebels like Saul, Cesc, Sergi, Borja or Chris makes us one step closer," explains Bernat Añaños, co-founder of Heura. "All this support gives us strength at all levels to continue pushing our mission globally, it is a source of pride to have the support of all these elite athletes," added Marc Coloma, CEO and co-founder of Heura.
Both define themselves as "activists," since their main mission is not to make plant protein a supplement or just another option when it comes to eating, but to ensure "that animals are out of the protein production equation," that is, that livestock farming disappears.