Schreiber Foods Leads $9M Round in Plantopia as Oat-Grown Casein Moves Toward Factory Production

Israeli molecular farming company Plantopia has closed a $9 million funding round led by US dairy manufacturer Schreiber Foods and food-focused investor Siddhi Capital, taking total capital raised past $16 million. The company will direct the money toward a production facility at Kibbutz Sdot Yam, on Israel’s Mediterranean coast, scheduled to start operating in the third quarter of 2026. Plantopia grows casein inside sprouted oats rather than in fermentation tanks, giving soy and oat-based cheese alternatives a run for their money. The company claims to have expressed all four principal casein subtypes and is the first platform to do so, a claim that has yet to be independently verified.

Founded in 2018, Plantopia originally used lettuce as its host plant before switching to oats, as they deliver higher expression levels across all four casein proteins. The company's cost argument is based on indoor vertical cultivation of engineered sprouts, which eliminates the need for livestock, farmland, and sunlight, requiring less capital expenditure than precision fermentation. With Schreiber Foods as the lead investor, Plantopia is poised to become a major player in the animal-free casein market, competing with several other companies pursuing plant-grown casein using different crops and technologies. Plantopia is now focusing on moving into commercial production after completing its development stages.