Find out how Haferkater reinvented train station food and investment with crowd support and aligned investors.
Founded
2014
Employees
270 (2024)
Location
Berlin, Germany
Sales
€ 21 Million (2024)
Steward-owned since
2024
Steward ownership model
Golden share model
Financing tools
Crowdfunding & aligned investors
Haferkater is the company that brought simple yet nourishing porridge from kitchen tables to transport hubs. Founded in 2014, the company now offers its oat-based breakfasts and other vegetarian & vegan food at 29 stores, primarily at central train stations. As a fast-scaling startup, Haferkater's founders took on investors to support their journey. Realising that despite a close and trust-based relationship with their investors they wanted their business to stay independent and aligned with its mission, the founders searched for alternative ownership forms – and financing that goes with it.
In 2024, the company both completed its transition to steward ownership and a new financing round based on steward ownership aligned principles. They successfully raised a total of €5.8 million, €3.5 million through a crowdfunding campaign and €2.3 million from aligned investors such as Cantella, Purpose Ventures, Karma Capital and private investors. This enabled them to facilitate a fair and respectful buy-out of the existing investors and transition to steward ownership, all while continuing to grow further.
In 2014, Anna Schubert, Leandro Burguete and Levin Siert found themselves standing in a small kebab store in Berlin. They wanted to turn it into a cozy breakfast spot built around a simple and nourishing dish: porridge made from just three ingredients, topped with fruits and nuts. Their vision was to make this humble breakfast that was simple yet filling a go-to option for today’s sustainability-conscious consumers. And so, they decided to buy the small kebab store, turning it into their first Haferkater café providing healthy takeaway porridge.
The idea quickly proved to be a huge success, leading to the opening of more stores all over the country. By 2026, 34 company-owned and franchise branches have been established across Germany and Austria. As they expanded, the founders' idea was clear: to bring healthy and sustainable food to people on the go, especially travellers at major transport hubs, where healthy food options are often limited. "With Haferkater, we cater to the needs of active people in urban areas. We focus on oats and a vegan-vegetarian range, and it is important to us to grow and operate sustainably and respectfully", explains Anna. [2] The founders carried this idea into the way Haferkater operates, choosing organic, high-quality ingredients and creating healthy working conditions for their employees.
Through Haferkater's rapid expansion at train stations, the company needed financial support for scaling in 2017. Early on, the founders partnered with two major investors, Katjes Greenfood and Zentis – both prominent players in the food industry. They provided the startup with external capital in exchange for shares, a typical approach that turned out to be fruitful for Haferkater, enabling rapid growth for the company. At the time, Katjes Greenfood held 25% of the shares, food-producer Zentis 6% and a business angel 2%. The three founders each kept 22% of shares, giving them a combined majority of the shares.
Beyond their financial contribution, the two strategic investors also brought relevant industry expertise and support. Katjes provided invaluable guidance on retail and showed immense support during the Covid crisis with a convertible loan. The partnership with Zentis was also highly beneficial, as they were a key partner for packaging Haferkater's products for food retail. Anna appreciates the trust all investors placed in them from the beginning.
"Both are family businesses and great partners who have supported us very well. But there is no guarantee that the people in charge will stay forever", Leandro says in an article of the German newspaper F.A.Z. [1].
But over time, the founders began to be conflicted about the investment and ownership model they had chosen for Haferkater. They knew they did not want to sell the company, and they did not want the ideals and values behind Haferkater to be lost. Looking at other businesses in their sector, they had seen them being sold and changing as a result. This was deeply unsettling for the founders, especially when changes in ownership also affected what the businesses stood for. They did not want Haferkater to follow the same path, with a future change in ownership changing the products, standards and priorities that had shaped the company. As Leandro explains: "Our promise of quality cannot be kept if investors demand more and more profit per shop. At some point, this can only be achieved by reducing staffing levels and purchasing cheaper goods."
At the same time, the founders were observing broader developments in the (travel) food industry, where a growing number of independent players were being acquired by a small number of corporations and hedge funds. Seeing how concentrated the industry had become, they wanted to show that it was possible to grow a successful food business while remaining independent and taking a different path.
And this was the reason that in 2020 the founders started thinking about what they wanted for Haferkater's future. The three started to dive into questions of ownership and what a sustainable financing solution could look like – ensuring long term independence, securing value-orientation while also enabling the company to grow further.
For Anna and Leandro it was clear that their company should become more independent from its founders while staying true to its values. As they began exploring alternative ownership models, they read about steward ownership and learned more about it at the Steward Ownership Conference 2023. After attending the SO:23, they started working with Purpose Consulting to explore how steward ownership could work for Haferkater and determine the best way to implement it. The three founders ultimately decided to transition their startup to steward ownership in order to be able to grow independently and, at the same time, secure Haferkater's value-orientation.
Once they came to the decision that steward ownership was the right path for them, it also meant that they would need to buy out the existing investors in order to transition and restructure the company. Throughout the founders journey, they had remained in contact and transparent with their existing investors. When they communicated their wishes to their investors, they were fortunate: with Katjes and Zentis, they had family-owned businesses on board who understood the wish to safeguard the mission-orientation and to strive for independence.
In the negotiations, both Zentis and Katjes aligned with the founders' vision to set up the company independently – a commitment that’s not always a given and can often be a red line for investors, especially when it comes to selling shares of a highly successful, emerging startup. Jakob Willeke from Purpose Ventures, who supported Haferkater on their journey, explains that not all companies are fortunate enough to have existing investors who want to take a different path with their company and are as cooperative as they were in the case of Haferkater.
Given the company's success, the buyout of the old investors came with a certain price tag. To make this possible while also enabling the company’s next growth steps, Haferkater chose two financing routes in parallel: a crowdfunding campaign and capital from steward ownership aligned investors. Together, these financing sources allowed Haferkater to buy back the shares held by the existing investors and establish a new financing structure for the company.
The crowdfunding campaign started in December 2023, with Haferkater partnering with the GLS Bank to use the power of the crowd, its loyal customers and its wider community to raise the necessary capital. To make the campaign successful, Haferkater reached out directly to people visiting its shops at train stations, through leaflets and other information materials. The team wanted to speak to their loyal and satisfied customers to ask if they would also be interested in financially accompanying Haferkater's journey.
By doing so, Haferkater ultimately successfully raised €3.5 million in subordinated capital. The first €2.2 million was to be used to expand operations and open new stores, ensuring that Haferkater no longer relies on external investor funding for future growth. The remaining €1.03 million were combined with funds from Purpose Ventures, Karma Capital, Cantella and other investors to buy back shares from the existing investors, allowing the company to fully transition to steward ownership. The crowdfunding, set up together with the sustainable GLS bank, had a duration of seven years. Investors receive an interest rate of 8.5% per year, with a potential one-time bonus of 15% if 78 stores are built by 2029. The redemption takes place over five years at different rates.
On their way to steward ownership, Anna, Leandro and Levin faced some hurdles. Despite having the GLS bank as an experienced partner on their side, this was the first time that a company used crowdfunding to buy out old investors and hence the German financial supervisory authorities were dealing with something unusual and new. Another challenge was that the company was only collecting money for a company structure that they had not yet set up. To protect their investors, the founders set up an investment structure in which they can only access the raised capital after Haferkater successfully transitioned to steward ownership.
In October 2024, Haferkater crossed the finishing line, or rather: flew over it! The company had not only raised the targeted 3.5 million Euros with their crowdinvesting campaign, but has also collected additional 2.3 million Euros in steward ownership aligned capital from new investors, including Purpose Ventures, Cantella, Karma Capital and private investors. The specific rights of these investors, as well as the repayment mechanism and profit waterfall, are explained in more detail in the chapter Details ownership & financing structure.
On October 10th 2024, the transition to steward ownership was finally sealed at the notary's office. The company opted for a veto share model, where the principles of steward ownership are enshrined in the statutes of the company, separating voting rights from economic participation and the Purpose Foundation holds a veto right to secure them in the long run. Voting rights remain with the active stewards of the company, while investors and founders participate economically through predefined and capped financial rights.
To implement this structure legally, Haferkater uses four different share classes:
Class A shares are steward shares, which carry the company's voting rights but no dividend rights. They are held by the people actively involved in the company, ensuring that control remains with the company's stewards. At Haferkater, currently the three founders each hold one third of the steward shares.
The Class B veto share (also referred to as the Golden Share) is held by the Purpose Foundation. It carries 1% of the voting rights and exists solely to protect the steward ownership structure. The Purpose Foundation can veto changes to the statutes that would undermine the principles of steward ownership but has no role in the company's day-to-day operations, governance or strategy.
Class C shares are held by investors. They do not carry voting rights and entitle investors to a capped return of (up to 3.7 times) their original investment. Beyond this agreed return, the shares carry no further economic entitlement. This allows investors to participate economically without influencing the control of the company. Investors also have information, consultation and consent rights, giving them a voice in certain decisions and allowing them to contribute their perspective to the company’s development.
Class D shares recognise the founders' early entrepreneurial risk, investments and years with little or no salary. They do not carry voting rights but entitle founders to capped dividend rights of up to €2 million per founder.
Haferkater's new ownership structure was designed to include the new investors in an appropriate and steward ownership aligned way. Rather than buying shares of Haferkater with voting rights and economic rights, the investors became financing partners. They hold non-voting equity with capped economic rights and their return is limited to a predefined multiple of the original investment. The target repayment amount is capped (at 3.7 times the invested capital) and is intended to be fully repaid by 31 December 2031. Any amount outstanding after this date accrues interest.
While investors do not hold voting rights, they still have an important role to play in the company. The agreed upon investment structure provides them with clearly defined information, consultation and consent rights. These rights are designed to create transparency, integrate the investors’ perspectives and experiences, and protect the agreed financing framework whilst keeping entrepreneurial control over the company with the stewards.
The consultation rights ensure that investors remain informed and are consulted on a defined set of key decisions. These include significant changes to the company's strategy, the appointment of a new CEO, the admission of new steward owners, and substantial unplanned investments exceeding €500,000. While these decisions remain with the company, Haferkater is required to seek the investors' perspective before moving forward.
The consent rights apply to a limited number of fundamental matters that shape the long-term framework of the investment. These include changes to the company's purpose, the introduction of employee profit participation, the transfer of profits to another entity, contracts with the founders, additional borrowing above €400,000, and issuance of additional equity. In these cases, Haferkater requires the investors' consent before a decision can be implemented.
The financing structure allows investors to receive liquidity without the whole company having to be sold. Liquidity either comes from profit distributions (capped as described above) or through a selling of shares either to other investors (with consent of the other shareholders) or back to the company. This creates a clear “structured exit” mechanism for the investors.
To implement this mechanism, 75% of distributable profits are allocated on a priority basis to holders of Class C (Investors) and Class D (Founder) shares on a pro rata basis. Shareholders may choose whether their allocation is paid out directly as a distribution or used by the company to repurchase part of their shares. In addition, shares may be repurchased through a shareholder resolution with the consent of the respective shareholder.
To represent the different levels of risk and return, the profit waterfall of Haferkater follows three phases:
During the first phase, 100% of profits distributed by the company are allocated to Class C investor shares until investors received repayments equal to twice their initial investment.
Once investors have received repayments equal to two times their initial investment, founders begin to participate in distributions as well. During this phase, distributable profits are split simultaneously among investors, founders, and company reserves. Founders may receive up to 12.5% of distributable profits, while investors continue receiving distributions until reaching the capped return of 3.7x.
Once investors have received their full capped return of 3.7x, they don’t receive any returns. In this phase, founders may receive up to 80% of distributable profits. Each founder's total compensation is capped at €2 million. After this cap has been reached, no further distributions are made to the founder shares and all remaining profits stay within the company to serve its purpose.
In addition, the repayment and return related to the crowdfunding need to be taken into account. As the instrument is debt-based, the interest payments count as expenses and reduce the distributable profit.
With steward ownership, the three founders of Haferkater gave away their financial ownership of the company. While they won't directly benefit from the increasing value of Haferkater, they have created a founder compensation model in which they receive capped and limited compensation for the risk they took and early investments in the company. Rather than participating in profit distributions from the beginning, the founders only receive distributions once investors have reached predefined repayment milestones. This ensures that investor capital is repaid first while allowing founders to participate in the company's financial success over time.
Haferkater’s journey shows that steward ownership can be successfully combined with growth financing. By combining a crowdinvesting campaign with capital from steward ownership aligned investors, the company was able to buy out its previous investors, complete its transition to steward ownership and secure capital for its future journey. Today, control remains with the people responsible for Haferkater’s purpose and long-term development, while investors participate through clearly defined and capped financial rights. As a unique example for steward ownership and aligned financing, Haferkater has become a true lighthouse for founders and investors looking to combine growth capital with long-term independence.
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[1] Mohr, D. Haferkater-Strategie: Warum Kapital auch mal geduldig sein muss. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. (2024)
[2] Willenbrock, H. Haferkater: „Wofür hätten wir dann all die Jahre gearbeitet?“. brand eins online. (2024)
Last updated: 25 August 2026
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