Vegan Investors Back Western European Plant-Based Distributor Brandplant

Brandplant, a plant-based distributor for the Benelux region, is now gearing up to expand its presence across its markets in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The Rotterdam startup bagged funding from prominent vegan investors, including UK-based Veg Capital and Sweden’s Kale United. 

Brandplant has raised fresh funding from Veg Capital and Kale United to speed up its expansion across the Benelux region, bringing new international vegan brands into the region whilst also doubling down on its own-brand plant-based products. The amount raised was undisclosed, but the Rotterdam startup says the funding forms a “synergistic partnership” between the three firms. 

Ramping up distribution across Western Europe

Founded in 2020, Brandplant mainly distributes plant-based brands to the Benelux region, which includes Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Some of the brands the Rotterdam-based startup has worked with include VFC, the British vegan chicken startup co-founded by Matthew Glover of Veganuary fame, who also co-founded Veg Capital. 

Brandplant also boasts its own vegan food brands, which include Pianta and Upside Plant Based. It says the fresh capital injection will help the company grow its operations, bringing even more global products into the Western European market, while also strengthening its own labels. 

The partnership with Kale United and Veg Capital will involve distributing more of the two investors’ portfolio companies. 

“Working with Veg Capital’s team to bring portfolio brands, such as VFC, to the Benelux region creates value for both partners, which has only been strengthened by Kale United joining this partnership,” explained Brandplant co-founder Erik van Gangelen. Van Gangelen started the Brandplant amid the pandemic alongside Dirk Schnellen and Gertjan Kruijk. 

European vegan network

The partnership will also mean Brandplant’s own brands will benefit from Veg Capital and Kale United’s network to distribute in the UK and Scandinavia. Brandplant has described the collaboration as a “synergistic partnership” between businesses that are aligned ethically to create a “vegan network” with “strong potential for further growth”. 

Commenting on the investment and new alliance, Veg Capital managing director Matthew Glover said it “really is a win-win situation, as we enable their continued growth while also allowing our portfolio companies to access new European markets.”

With VFC, one of Veg Capital’s portfolio brands and also co-founded by Glover, announcing its ambitions to expand rapidly around the world, it is likely that the investment in Brandplant will form part of the vegan chicken label’s strategy to further double down on its footprint across the Benelux region. Just this week, VFC announced it will be entering the UK’s largest retail chain Tesco nationwide. 

Other food techs that Veg Capital has previously invested in include Zveetz, a Berlin-based plant-based desserts startup, Swedish vegan seafood company Hooked, and Israel microbial fermentation dairy firm Remilk. 

For Kale United, whose portfolio companies include Spanish plant-based pioneers Heura and disruptive British vegan meat brand THIS, backing Brandplant is part of its “strategic plan to solve distribution of plant-based brands all across Europe.”

Lead image courtesy of Upside Plant Based / Brandplant.