Amsterdam-based vegan cheese company Willicroft has raised €2 million in pre-seed funding that will be used to expand its growth in the European market.
The funding round was led by Rockstart, Paulig’s venture arm PINC, with co-investors Döhler and Feast Ventures. According to vegconomist, Willicroft was previously backed by Capital V, a VC firm focused on vegan companies.
Brad Vanstone, the founder of Willicroft, comes from a background of dairy farming where his grandparents operated a free-range cow farm. After recognizing the negative environmental impacts of animal agriculture and transitioning to a plant-based diet back in 2017, Vanstone noted that although vegan meat and milk alternatives were enjoyable, vegan cheeses were lacking and “nothing came close.”
As such, Vanstone started what he called a pet project at home making quality and delicious vegan cheese, which eventually grew to what is now Willicroft.
Currently, Willicroft is made up of a small team and their vegan cheese offerings include fondue, sauce, Italian aged, and greek white. Willicroft’s vegan cheeses are made from ingredients such as soybeans, cashews, coconut oil, rice, white beans, and chickpea protein.
“With this new raise locked in we’ll be bringing our delicious, beautifully branded range of PBCs 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,” says Vanstone. “Our new investor group can help open up a number of new markets whilst also fast-tracking our products’ continued evolution.”
“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”, adds Marika King, head of PINC.
