Munich Startup: Sara, what motivated you to found the company?
Sara Marquart, Co-Founder and CTO at Planet A Foods: I have always been fascinated by developing products, i.e. making something that you can touch at the end of the day. This runs through my CV, from my doctoral thesis, to my time as a curator, where I was able to realize my own exhibition, which was then visited by several hundred thousand people, to my work in the food industry, in the USA and Switzerland.
You learn and grow step by step
Munich Startup: What do you wish you had known before you founded your first company?
Sara Marquart: I think it’s like many things. It’s easier than you thought beforehand. As a person, you always think: “How am I going to do this, how am I going to approach the whole thing?” – regardless of whether it’s for founding a company or other decisions in life. And then it turns out that you take one step at a time and learn and grow in the process.
Munich Startup: How has your company been financed so far?
Sara Marquart: Planet A Foods is financed via venture capital – we just announced our Series A financing round of 15.4 million US dollars in February. The Series A round was led by the Climate-Tech-VC World Fund, and other VC firms such as Cherry Ventures and Omnes Capital also participated. We intend to use the investment primarily to scale our cocoa-free chocolate ChoViva in new markets outside Germany and to expand our technology platform to other foods such as cocoa butter substitutes.
Tip: Simply follow through with the pitch
Munich Startup: When and where do you get the best ideas?
Sara Marquart: When I’m driving or going for a walk – in other words, whenever I can let my mind wander a little and have time to think. Or, in many cases, in a creative exchange with my team or my brother Max.
Munich Startup: What are your 3 favorite work tools?
Sara Marquart: Phew, I would say Excel, Python and ChatGPT.
Munich Startup: Your top tip for pitching?
Sara Marquart: Don’t listen to the nerves and just go for it. Everyone gets nervous when they present in front of people. It doesn’t get much better, you just get used to the feeling of nervousness. Whether you’re speaking in front of two people or 15,000, for me it’s almost the same at the end.
Sara Marquart: “We need startups and innovation if we want to get ahead as humanity.”
Munich Startup: Does it seem like a good time to start a company? Why?
Sara Marquart: It’s always a good time to start a business because there are so many opportunities and possibilities to advance our society as a whole. People are secretly born with the desire to keep innovating: from brewing beer for the first time thousands of years ago, to binoculars or cars. In other words, we need startups and innovation if we want to progress as humanity. Of course, financing options and availability have been better in the past, but they have also been worse in the past. With a good product and a good idea, you are sure to find someone who believes in you.
Munich Startup: Which technology or industry would you focus on for your next startup?
Sara Marquart: I find food exciting, as I also come from the food industry. But next time I might start something in chemistry or in the tech or software sector. We’ll see, I have a few ideas on my notepad. In addition, and I think this also counts as a startup, I would really like to do more with my hands. In agriculture, for example, with my own vineyard and winery.
Bureaucracy in Germany: horror
Munich Startup: What do you think could be improved in Munich as a startup location?
Sara Marquart: Munich is already a top ecosystem for technical founders. We have a strong location for software, IT, biotech, chemistry and medicine, and with LMU and TU, we also have leading universities with an excellent talent pool. In general, however, the bureaucracy in Germany and Bavaria is horrendous! And one could expect a little more support from the state and the federal state to help the young minds of this country to set up a company. Especially financially, as other countries do.
Munich Startup: Which founder would you like to meet in person? And what would you ask him or her?
Sara Marquart: Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. I find both of them very interesting and, at least in the public eye, perceived as modest personalities. I would like to know more about their founding stories and what they learned, what they would the same and what they would do differently next time. And how they reconciled work and family.