Corporate food companies group NutriUnited has raised €8.5 million in seed funding to build a home for family-run food producers. The Munich-based company, founded in 2024 by serial entrepreneur Josef Brunner, focuses on craft-based businesses in meat, meat alternatives and ready-made meals. With fresh capital and a roster of seasoned backers, NutriUnited aims to prove that growth, craftsmanship and quality can reinforce rather than undermine one another.
Safeguarding artisan family businesses
Family-run food firms remain the backbone of Europe’s regional economies, accounting for more than 60 percent of all companies in the European Union. Yet big-box retail pressure, rising input costs and the absence of clear succession plans are pushing many artisan producers toward closure. NutriUnited positions itself as a solution to this structural crisis by offering continuity, capital and a long-term home for these businesses.
Founder returns to his roots
NutriUnited’s strategy is shaped by Brunner’s own experience growing up in a family bakery that went bankrupt when he was 15. After building and exiting technology ventures such as JouleX, acquired by Cisco for $107 million, and industrial IoT player relayr, acquired by Munich Re for $300 million, he is now shifting his focus back to food. Brunner has also invested in food startups in recent years and says he has seen firsthand how difficult it is for new and family-owned companies in the sector to establish themselves sustainably and secure succession.
A buy-and-build platform with an anti-corporate ethos
NutriUnited is developing a buy-and-build platform that integrates family-owned companies while preserving their individual identities. The group currently includes Grasmehr and Morawitzky, a long-standing family producer of sausage and ham near Cologne, together employing more than 140 people. Rather than enforcing a single corporate mold, NutriUnited offers shared resources, technology-enabled tools and joint initiatives while allowing each business to remain close to its regional customers and craft traditions.
Investor backing and aligned vision
The €8.5 million seed round brought together investors with backgrounds in food, buy-and-build models, communications and new business models. Participants include Martina Pfeifer (flatexDegiro), Tim Stracke (Chrono24), Oliver Merkel (formerly Flink), Christof Wahl (G-FUND), Marc Müller (formerly ETL Group), Frank Dopheide (human unlimited), Arnd Hungerberg (ServiceNow), Finn Wentzler (Atlantis Ventures), Leon Mann (Direkt Gruppe), Dr. Hadi Saleh (CeramTec) and Timo Seggelmann (OakHorizon). Hungerberg says he invested because he believes in sustainable food innovation that connects tradition and the future, while Mann highlights NutriUnited’s role in safeguarding the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Capital deployment and phased expansion
The newly raised capital will be used to accelerate further acquisitions, integrate additional companies and reinforce NutriUnited’s operational backbone. Brunner describes a three-phase roadmap, starting with building a profitable and resilient platform that integrates the capabilities needed to scale, a phase the company expects to complete in the first half of 2026. The second phase will focus on stepping up acquisitions in the German-speaking region, while a third, less defined phase may involve expanding into new markets and product categories.
NutriUnited’s seed round underlines growing investor interest in models that blend technology, consolidation and respect for regional food heritage. By targeting family-run producers that lack succession options and offering them a stable home with shared resources, the company is positioning itself as an “anti-corporation” alternative to global food giants. If NutriUnited can execute its buy-and-build strategy while preserving the character of its portfolio companies, it could become a significant force in reshaping how Europe’s artisan food businesses survive and grow.