That of Libre Foods is an unusual story, as unusual as its bacon analog made from fermented mushrooms. The founder of the company, Alan Ramos, did not study business management and administration or any scientific career. The son of Mexican parents, Ramos grew up in the United States, where he graduated in philosophy. His fascination with Asian culture and languages led him to travel to China and Taiwan. In these countries, he became aware of the close link between food and the environment, which led him to adopt a vegan diet in 2017.
Without having any knowledge of the world of entrepreneurship, he started working, in Berlin, in the business acceleration program of ProVeg, an international organization whose raison d'être is to reduce the consumption of products of animal origin. Ramos ended up being the coordinator of this program until he created his own startup, Libre Foods, at the beginning of 2021. He founded the company in the German capital, but moved it to Barcelona "because of the scientific potential of the city", according to the words of the entrepreneur.
Libre Foods' first product is a bacon analogue. "In thirteen months we have gone from drawing a bacon on a blackboard to selling it in restaurants," says Ramos. The product has been cooked in the company's laboratories in Barcelona, but for larger-scale production, the entrepreneur has relied on a national manufacturer that he says cannot share its exact location.
Libre Foods is part of the still small number of companies dedicated to the production of alternative protein to that of animal origin. Reinventing food in a laboratory is complex and expensive: the start-up has involved an investment of 2.8 million euros to date, of which 2.2 million were raised a year ago in a round of financing led by Green Generation Fund with the support of Good Seed Ventures and ProVeg International, among many other investors.
By the end of this year, Ramos plans to raise a new round of financing, which will serve, in part, to launch the second of Libre Food's products: an analogue of chicken breast. "By the middle of this year we will have the first prototype," advances the businessman, who is already clear that the brisket will be followed by an entrecote, which they are already working on. “There is Libre for a while”, jokes the founder.
With a team of 14 people, Libre Foods is in the launch phase. "For now we are more focused on validating the product than on sales, which will still be less than a million euros this year," acknowledges Ramos. The company is pending the obtaining of a patent for the process of elaboration of the bacon and another for that of the fat.
