REG - Agronomics Limited - Financing of Liberation Labs with CPT Capital

AgronomicsAnnouncement

20/06/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 3861P  Agronomics Limited  20 June 2022

20th June 2022

Agronomics Limited (https://agronomics.im/)

 

("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 (https://cptcap.com/) ("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
(https://perfectday.com/) , The EVERY Company (https://theeverycompany.com/) ,
Motif FoodWorks (https://madewithmotif.com/products/finished-formats/) and
Geltor (https://geltor.com/) 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
(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Industrial-Biotechnology-Commercialization-Handbook-chemicals/dp/1079229957)
- '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 (https://liberationlabsltd.com/)

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 (https://agronomics.im/)

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/
(https://clicktime.symantec.com/368cVqxx3R6vTFuHpf6MSE66Gi?u=https%3A%2F%2Fagronomics.im%2F)
.

 

About CPT Capital (https://cptcap.com/)

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/
(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 Capital

 Limited                                          Cornish Limited       Securities Plc        Limited               TB Cardew
 The Company                                      Nomad                 Joint Broker          Joint Broker          Public Relations
 Richard Reed                                     Roland Cornish        Giles Balleny         Lucy Williams         Ed Orlebar

 Denham Eke                                       James Biddle          Michael Johnson       Charles Goodfellow    Charlotte Anderson
 +44 (0) 1624 639396                              +44 (0) 207 628 3396  +44 (0) 207 397 8900  +44 (0) 207 469 0936  +44 (0) 20 7930 0777

 info@agronomics.im (mailto:info@agronomics.im)                                                                     +44 (0) 7738 724 630

                                                                                                                    agronomics@tbcardew.com (mailto:agronomics@tbcardew.com)

 

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