Linz Cooking Course Start-Up 7hauben Buys Vegan Masterclass, Brings In Tractive Alumni as Investors
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The Linz-based cooking course start-up 7hauben is now cooking vegan, too, and with money from the Tractive exit. 7hauben is acquiring the German online cooking school Vegan Masterclass as well as the training program of vefa Fernschule, a distance-learning school for plant-based cuisine. At the same time, the company has closed a funding round in the mid-six-figure euro range. Among the investors is Traxit, the investment vehicle of former Tractive executives. With the acquisition, 7hauben’s catalog grows to more than 150 online cooking courses.
What 7hauben Is Buying
Vegan Masterclass was co-founded in 2018 by the professional chef and best-selling author Sebastian Copien and is one of the best-known providers of digital cooking courses focused on plant-based cuisine. The platform offers about 40 online courses with more than 1,100 video lessons, featuring Sophia Hoffmann, Stina Spiegelberg, Björn Moschinski and the nutrition expert Niko Rittenau, among others. The deal also includes vefa Fernschule, whose state-accredited distance course “Plant-Based Pro” is aimed at ambitious home cooks as well as professionals and restaurants.
Vegan Masterclass will continue as a separate brand, and its founder, Mr. Copien, will stay on board. Two new courses with him have already been produced together. 7hauben plans to expand the offering with additional courses, marketing and its own platform technology, using synergies in video production and marketing. The companies did not disclose the purchase price.
“With Vegan Masterclass, we are acquiring a strong brand with outstanding content and a community that is passionate about high-quality plant-based cooking,” said Johannes Sailer, 7hauben’s managing director. It is not 7hauben’s first acquisition: In 2022, the start-up bought into its Swiss rival Chef Session.
Tractive Alumni Invest Six Figures
The acquisition is being financed partly through the funding round in the mid-six-figure euro range, with the rest coming from 7hauben’s own cash flow. Besides Traxit, other entrepreneurs and business angels are taking part. Traxit is backed by 19 former members of Tractive’s leadership team, including its co-founder Michael Hurnaus. The Upper Austrian maker of GPS trackers for pets was sold this year to the Italian tech group Bending Spoons in a deal worth close to a billion, shortly before Bending Spoons went public. Since then, the Tractive alumni have been reinvesting their money in young companies.
“In recent years, 7hauben has impressively proven that high-quality digital content and a scalable subscription business model can be successfully combined,” Mr. Hurnaus said.
Growth and a Target of €3 Million in A.R.R.
Even without the acquisition, 7hauben is growing fast. According to the company, revenue was most recently almost 40 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier, and the number of new customers rose by almost 70 percent. The platform currently has about 30,000 active subscribers, and more than 100,000 paying customers have bought courses since its founding. By the end of 2026, 7hauben aims to reach annual recurring revenue of more than €3 million.
Growth is driven mainly by well-known chefs. Alongside Johann Lafer, Haya Molcho and the bread expert Lutz Geißler, 7hauben has recently signed Roland Trettl, Tarik Rose and Christian Henze for new courses.
Using A.I. to Enter New Markets
Beyond the German-speaking region, 7hauben is betting on its English-language platform, 7flavor.com. Existing German-language courses are being adapted for an international audience with A.I.-powered translation, supplemented by courses produced in English with internationally known chefs. “Now we want to take the next growth steps both through strategic acquisitions and through international expansion,” Mr. Sailer said.
The Competition
Internationally, the market for online cooking courses is fiercely contested. The U.S. giant MasterClass offers courses with star chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, while the cooking school Rouxbe is aimed mainly at professionals. In the German-speaking region, 7hauben also competes with free recipe videos from platforms such as Chefkoch and Kitchen Stories, as well as with course marketplaces such as the Berlin start-up konfetti, which also arranges cooking workshops. Compared with the free offerings, 7hauben aims to stand out with professionally produced, ad-free premium videos.
