Planted Foods

Planted entered the plant-based meat market by targeting a segment competitors neglect: whole-cut products (chicken breast, pulled pork) rather than ground meat (burgers, sausages). Founded in 2019 by ETH Zurich scientists, the company uses fermentation and extrusion to create fibrous textures mimicking whole muscle meat - technically harder than ground products but commanding higher prices and facing less competition. This focus on technical difficulty as moat works because Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods won the burger category, making it commoditized, while whole cuts remain premium. Planted's $72M+ funding and distribution in 5,000+ European stores prove that in food tech, targeting harder problems with less competition beats entering categories where first movers already achieved product-market fit.