Croatia's Hortilab seeks to raise 600,000 euro on Funderbeam

So far, Hortilab has raised 312,000 euro, above its minimum target of 250,000 euro, with 11 days left for fundraising on Funderbeam, a presentation by the company published on Funderbeam showed on Monday.

Hortilab specialises in producing various types of disease-free plants for various markets, such as fruit, ornamental and aquarium plants market. It produces high-quality plants using tissue culture, including fruit, ornamental and industrial plants, and aims to contribute to sustainable agriculture that contributes positively to the environment.

Hortilab was founded in 2010 by Vilim Elez, who invested his private capital in building a laboratory in his basement and renting a greenhouse. Initially, Hortilab produced around 20 aquarium plants that were sold solely in Croatia. Currently the company is exporting to 42 countries across the globe.

In 2021, Hortilab's sales revenue came in at 340,000 euro, while its costs amounted to 338,000 euro. “We believe that it is now time to start the production of fruit seedlings and ornamental and industrial plants on a larger scale because the markets for these plants are more predictable than those for aquarium plants,” the company explained. Its aim is to use selected parts of the produced plants to produce ready-to-grow seedlings and to enable grafting for the most successful plants in order to add the most sought-after fruit varieties to its product portfolio.

The Zagreb-based unit of Funderbeam, Funderbeam South-East Europe, was established in 2016 as a 20:80 joint venture of the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) and Estonia's Funderbeam Ventures OU to provide cross-border services to investors and startups.

Last year, the ZSE raised its stake in Funderbeam South-East Europe to 30% from 20%.

($ = 0.947 euro)