New analysis of Net Zero Insights figures from the Good Food Institute (GFI) shows that European alternative protein companies raised €236 million in private investment in the first six months of 2026.

The growth, a 56% increase on the same period last year, was led by fermentation companies. Many of these also received grant funding, which GFI noted can boost investor confidence.

However, plant-based companies specifically saw a decline in private investment, with many companies entering the challenging scale-up phase – but the second half of 2025 was particularly strong for this sub-category, GFI acknowledged. Cultivated meat investment grew slightly, but remained below its 2023 peak.

European start-ups raised more than three-quarters of the sector’s global total, according to the figures. However, global funding dropped from €341 million in the first half of 2025 to €306 million in the same period this year.

The number of deals also halved over the same period, with GFI highlighting that ‘increasingly selective’ investors are backing fewer companies.

Recommendations put forward by GFI, alongside Invest-NL and Invest International, include mixing different types of funding – such as grants, loans and equity – to spread the risk of scaling up across a broader investor group.

Additionally, it highlights the potential of using public funding more strategically, supporting private investment and giving investors more confidence. Fermentation companies’ success in raising grant funding shows what could be possible, GFI points out.

European companies working on plant-based meat and dairy raised €18 million, plummeting from €61 million invested during the same period last year. Consolidation has been a key theme, with smaller businesses being acquired by major players or merging together to cut costs.

Dairy giants have been increasingly broadening their portfolios by acquiring plant-based brands with functional and wellness positioning. Notable deals in the first half of 2026 include Danone’s €1 billion acquisition of British functional plant-based nutrition brand Huel, and Müller’s acquisition of German alt-dairy producer Berief.

GFI noted that some businesses in the plant-based space are struggling to secure funding to move from pilot plant to industrial scale, with support to fill the infrastructure gap through new financing mechanisms recognised as a pressing priority across the continent.

Precision fermentation companies raised €100 million in the first half of 2026 – more than the €97 million they received through the whole of 2025, a notable achievement. Meanwhile, biomass fermentation companies raised €99 million – more than the €61 million raised last year.

Investments where characterised by fewer, larger deals, such as French precision fermentation start-up Verley’s €25 million funding raise, and Dutch biomass fermentation start-up The Protein Brewery’s €18 million.

Fermentation start-ups secured €67 million in grants, a significant increase from the €455 million in grant funding raised by European alt-protein companies across all sub-categories combined in the same period last year.

Public investments and government loans were combined with private finance in some cases. For example, Solar Foods received a €78 million funding package from Business Finland, including a €40 million grant and a €38 million loan, to commercialise its fermentation-made Solein protein.

Elsewhere, the European Innovation Council Accelerator Programme provided €12.5 million, combining a €2.5 million grant with €10 million equity, to support Dutch company Vivici in scaling its precision-fermented dairy proteins.

A Europe-wide consortium led by the UK’s Adamo Foods also received a €10 million grant under the EU-funded Circular Bio-Based Europe Joint Undertaking, to scale up Adamo’s fermentation-made steak.

GFI emphasised the growing need to diversify our protein supply, as the EU faces heatwaves and drought putting pressure on food production, while global conflicts are continuing to impact supply chains. It has called for an expansion of blended, risk-shared financing to boost the resilience of the broader food system.