TIDMANIC
RNS Number : 3861P
Agronomics Limited
20 June 2022
20th June 2022
Agronomics Limited
("Agronomics" or the "Company")
Leading Cellular Agriculture Investors Agronomics and CPT
Capital Partner with Precision Fermentation Experts Mark Warner and
Etan Bendheim in Financing of Liberation Labs
Agronomics (ANIC:LSE), the leading listed company focused on the
field of cellular agriculture, is pleased to announce it has led
the founder's round of Liberation Labs Holdings Inc ("Liberation
Labs") through an initial investment of US$ 627k for a 47% equity
stake. Liberation Labs aims to become the global leader of
precision fermentation with purpose-built production facilities for
industrial biotechnology. The investment will be made using funds
from the company's own resources.
Agronomics and CPT Capital LLP ("CPT Capital"), two of the most
prominent and active investors in the field of cellular agriculture
have come together with Liberation Labs' co-founders Mark Warner,
CEO, and Etan Bendheim, CBO, to address the pressing need for
modern full-scale precision fermentation facilities.
Investment in precision fermentation companies within the
cellular agriculture sector has been increasing, with US$ 1.7
billion raised in 2021 alone. In the US, Agronomics' and CPT
Capital's portfolio companies, including Perfect Day , The EVERY
Company , Motif FoodWorks and Geltor are already generating
revenues from their precision fermentation produced proteins, which
are on the market in the form of dairy, egg and other proteins such
as collagens. As more companies look to commercialise and scale-up,
there is a need for large-scale, cost competitive manufacturing
capacity.
Liberation Labs was formed to address the ever-widening gap in
fermentation capacity. The shortage of fermentation capacity for
cellular agriculture is reaching its tipping point - companies that
are making alternative proteins have scarce resources to produce at
the scale, quality and cost needed to meet consumer demands.
Fermentation capacity being used today was built for other
purposes, mainly pharmaceuticals, and does not fit the need of most
precision fermentation proteins, including those mentioned above.
Many of the facilities currently in use are over 40 years old, and
do not have the modern downstream equipment to drive quality,
yield, and production efficiency needed to compete in a global
marketplace. Liberation Labs is currently evaluating 6 geographies
to locate its first fit-for-purpose facility which, once built,
will have a total fermentation capacity in the millions of
litres.
Precision fermentation uses microbial hosts to function as 'cell
factories,' programmed to produce specific functional ingredients.
This technology has existed for over 40 years, but it is only in
the last decade that precision fermentation tools have become
economically viable to produce food ingredients inclusive of dairy
proteins, egg proteins and collagen. This biotechnology
infrastructure will catalyse the disconnection of food production
from animal agriculture and could provide a sustainable and
consistent protein supply to address food security issues within
the coming decades.
Jim Mellon, co-founder, and executive director of Agronomics
commented:-
"This is a hugely exciting investment for us, and it is a
privilege to help facilitate the first and only precision food
fermentation facility. Existing contract manufacturing capacity
will need to be scaled up by 1,000x in the coming decades to
facilitate broad based production and adoption of proteins produced
via fermentation. Liberation Labs' solution will set the standard
for the precision fermentation industry with cost effective,
reliable and strategically situated facilities to meet growing
consumer demand across the globe. It is a crucial step in the
advancement of cellular agriculture."
Mark Warner, co-founder and CEO of Liberation Labs added:-
"Liberation Labs will deliver precision fermentation without
compromise for its customers, and aims to become the global leader
for alternative protein production, by commercialising modern and
purpose-built manufacturing facilities at a cost structure that
frees the world from the costs of industrialised agriculture."
A transformative leader in precision fermentation, Mark Warner
is dedicated to delivering first-of-kind production capabilities
for the alternative protein industry, at scale, driving down costs
and increasing yield. Mark has spent the last 15 years leading
design, construction, and scale-up of novel protein manufacturing,
and held executive positions at Impossible Foods as its Chief
Engineering Officer; Solazyme as Sr Vice President of Engineering;
and Harris Group as its Sr. Vice President of Process, among
others. Mark also authored the recent industrial biotechnology
commercialisation handbook - 'How to make proteins without animals
and fuels and chemicals without crude oil'.
A business development and strategy professional, Etan Bendheim
has worked in and around fermentation and biotechnology for his
entire career. Beginning in healthcare investment banking at UBS,
Etan then transitioned to the industry side, spending over a decade
in strategy and operations roles at Phibro Animal Health
Corporation, a global leader in animal health and nutrition, before
founding LAVVAN, Inc., a pioneering company in the use of cellular
agriculture to manufacture safe and scalable cannabinoids, in 2019.
In addition to his position at LAVVAN, since 2021 Etan has also led
business development efforts at Hannibal Biotech, a 1.5 million
litre fermentation facility in the US Midwest.
New Agrarian Company Limited also participated in the financing
of Liberation Labs with an investment of US$ 267k on the same terms
as Agronomics.
About Liberation Labs
Liberation Labs was formed to address the growing fermentation
capacity gap in cellular agriculture by providing the industry with
the infrastructure to commercialise novel protein manufacturing at
the scale and cost structure required by the market. Specifically,
Liberation Labs is developing a global network of fit-for-purpose
precision fermentation facilities located in the geographies that
will drive market access for novel protein companies to
commercially succeed, enabling them to achieve price parity with
animal proteins. Founded by industry leaders with decades of
experience in deployment of precision fermentation facilities and
commercial expertise in fermentation market dynamics, our vision is
to enable the technology that frees the world from the costs of
industrialised agriculture.
About Agronomics
Agronomics is a leading listed alternative proteins company with
a focus on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat. The Company
has established a portfolio of 22 companies at the Pre-Seed to
Series C stage in this rapidly advancing sector. It seeks to secure
minority stakes in companies owning technologies with defensible
intellectual property that offer new ways of producing food and
materials with a focus on products historically derived from
animals. These technologies are driving a major disruption in
agriculture, offering solutions to improve sustainability, as well
as addressing human health, animal welfare and environmental
damage. This disruption will decouple supply chains from the
environment and animals, as well as being fundamental to feeding
the world's expanding population. A full list of Agronomics'
portfolio companies is available at https://agronomics.im/ .
About CPT Capital
CPT Capital is a pioneer in the field of alternative proteins,
investing in visionary companies creating the future of food and
materials without animals. As a leading investor focused on the
sector since 2015, CPT Capital partners with founders from Pre-Seed
onwards, backing founders as they build their businesses. CPT's
mission is to disrupt the global food system through alternative
proteins to realise a more sustainable, ethical and nutritious food
system that replaces animals in the supply chain. CPT's portfolio
of more than 50 companies are driving this revolution, with leaders
in cell culture, recombinant proteins, plant-based proteins and
enabling technologies that support the transition. More information
is available at https://cptcap.com/
About Cellular Agriculture
Cellular Agriculture is the production of agriculture products
directly from cells, as opposed to raising an animal for slaughter,
or growing crops. This encompasses cell culture to produce
cultivated meat and materials, and fermentation processes that
harness a combination of molecular biology, synthetic biology,
tissue engineering and biotechnology to massively simplify
production methods in a sustainable manner.
Over the coming decades, the source of the world's food supply
traditionally derived from conventional agriculture is going to
change dramatically. We have already witnessed the first wave of
this shift with the consumer adoption of plant-based alternative
proteins but today, we are on the cusp of an even bigger wave of
change. This is being facilitated by advances in cellular
agriculture. This change is necessary, given scientists claims that
if we maintain existing animal protein consumption patterns, then
we will not meet the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting warming to
1.5
AT Kearney, a global consultancy firm, projects that cultivated
meat's market share will reach 35% by 2040. This combined with the
Good Food Institute's estimate that a US $1.8 trillion investment
will be required in order to produce just 10% of the world's
protein using this technology, means that we are on the cusp of a
multi-decade flow of capital to build out manufacturing facilities.
Funding in the field of cellular agriculture is accelerating,
however still less than US$ 4 billion has been invested worldwide
since the industry's inception in 2016.
For further information please contact:
Agronomics Beaumont Cenkos Peterhouse
Limited Cornish Securities Capital TB Cardew
Limited Plc Limited
The Company Nomad Joint Broker Joint Broker Public Relations
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Richard Reed Roland Cornish Giles Balleny Lucy Williams Ed Orlebar
Denham Eke James Biddle Michael Charles Charlotte Anderson
Johnson Goodfellow
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+44 (0) 20 7930
0777
+44 (0) 1624 +44 (0) +44 (0) +44 (0) +44 (0) 7738 724
639396 207 628 207 397 207 469 630
info@agronomics.im 3396 8900 0936 agronomics@tbcardew.com
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