Next Gen Foods, maker of Tindle plant-based faux chicken products, has entered into a media-for-equity deal with SevenVentures, the investment arm of ProSiebenSat.1, Germany’s largest media and digital company. The eight-figure euro net value deal follows Next Gen’s US $100 Series A fundraise in early 2022 and will enable the food tech startup to expand its marketing reach, broaden consumer education around the Tindle brand and further innovation in the plant-based foods category.
The media partnership is a first for Singapore-headquartered Next Gen Foods, which brought the Tindle brand to Germany last summer. Earlier this year the company debuted its line of retail products with the nation’s largest retailer, the Edeka Group, and its expansive footprint of store locations across the country. Among the imitation meat products, now selling for €2.99 per package, are schnitzel, nuggets, tenders and wings.
The media-for-equity investment provides Tindle with an opportunity to increase its existing brand awareness and visibility in the German market, working closely with the SevenVentures team to find tailored solutions for media promotions and advertising. Additionally, the partnership will support long-term awareness-building around the emerging and evolving plant-based food category. This comes at a time when Germans are decreasing their overall consumption of animal meat – reportedly by approximately 4.2 kg per capita in 2022 – and over half of the population is self-described as “flexitarian.”
Founded in 2009, SevenVentures’ investment model largely focuses on securing media partnerships for early stage to growth B2C companies in exchange for equity in their portfolio companies. The group primarily operates and invests in companies whose target markets are Germany and Austria.
