Plantish, an Israeli food company focused on alternative seafood, raised $12 million in funding in the most recent seed round. The company claims to have created plant-based salmon fillets that look, taste, and feel like the real thing. The Startup will debut in select pop-up locations by the end of 2022, with an official launch scheduled for 2024.
The $12.5 million round was led by Israeli venture capital fund State Of Mind Ventures, with participation from Pitango Health Tech; New York-based alternative protein-focused VC Unovis; TechAviv Founder Partners, a fund focused on Israeli founders that has backed companies such as drone logistics firm Flytrex and creator firm Nas Academy; and Israeli investment firm OurCrowd.
Plant-based Salmon
The Startup, based in Rehovot, Israel, claims to have created a fully vegan, structured, boneless salmon fillet with the same nutritional value as the actual fish — high in protein, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, and B vitamins — but without the mercury, antibiotics, hormones, microplastics, and toxins that are commonly found in ocean or aquaculture species. According to the company, the Plantish product can be cooked or grilled in the same ways that traditional salmon is.
Plantish unveiled its plant-based salmon prototype in January, announcing the development of a patent-pending additive manufacturing technology to produce plant-based fish alternatives at a low cost and on a large scale.
Plantish was founded in mid-2021 by Ofek Ron, the former general manager of the Israeli organisation Vegan Friendly, who serves as CEO; Dr. Hila Elimelech, a chemistry PhD and expert in additive manufacturing technology, who serves as head of R&D; Dr. Ron Sicsic, chief scientific officer; Dr. Ariel Szklanny, a bioengineering PhD, who serves as chief technology officer; and Eyal Briller, a former director of product at US plant-
Plantish explained that the new investment will go toward building its team and conducting additional R&D for product development, with plans to offer its plant-based salmon in restaurants and eateries as a first step.
“We’ve already seen it happen in the meat market, now it’s the time for fish. And in particular salmon, which accounts for $50 billion in the half a trillion dollar seafood market. The problem has been that fish is so difficult to replicate until now. Our plant-based salmon is a delicious upgrade to salmon that is safer for you and better for the planet. No antibiotics, no hormones, no mercury, no bycatch, and no compromise.”
– Dr. Ron Sicsic, Chief Scientific Officer, Plantish
According to Merav Rotem Naaman, general partner at State Of Mind Ventures, “Cracking wholecut seafood is the next big opportunity in our quest for impact and sustainability. When we met the world-class team at Plantish we knew that they had the passion, vision and capability to pull off the seemingly impossible task of producing a true upgrade to fish.”
The startup previously raised $2 million in pre-seed funding from TechAviv Founder Partners as well as angel investors such as renowned Spanish-American chef José Andrés and Palestinian-Israeli content creator and celebrity Nuseir Yassin from Nas Daily.
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