TIDMANIC
RNS Number : 5409L
Agronomics Limited
13 September 2021
13 September 2021
Agronomics Limited
("Agronomics" or the "Company")
Agronomics subscription in portfolio company Formo's US $50
million Series A Fundraise
Agronomics, the leading listed alternative proteins company
focused on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat, is pleased to
announce portfolio company Formo Bio GmbH ("Formo", previously
LegenDairy Foods GmbH) has raised a US $50 million Series A funding
round led by EQT Ventures .
Agronomics participated in the round, subscribing for 1,186
Series A Preferred Shares, with a EUR3.15 million investment.
Agronomics now holds a total of 3,575 shares in Formo, representing
an equity ownership of 5.94% on a fully diluted basis.
Agronomics co-led Formo's EUR4 million Seed round in December
2019 , with a EUR1 million investment for 2,389 Series Seed
Preferred Shares, which will see a 7.5x uplift on the original
investment. This represents an IRR of 225% and, subject to audit,
Agronomics will carry this position on its balance sheet at EUR10.7
million (approximately GBP9.2 million), inclusive of the Series A
participation. This equates to an estimated portfolio weighting
based on the Company's last reported Net Asset Value of 9.1%.
The full announcement is set out below with no material changes
or adjustments:
Formo Raises $50M Series A to Supercharge Animal-Free Cheese
Production
-- Largest series A funding round in European FoodTech raised by Formo
-- Formo to boost R&D capacity and fast-track commercialization ahead of its market launch
BERLIN, September 13th, 2021 - Precision fermentation company
Formo has announced today that it has closed its Series A financing
round led by EQT Ventures, with Elevat3 Capital and Lowercarbon
Capital as co-leads. The funding raised by Formo amounts to $50M,
which makes it the largest venture funding round to date in
European FoodTech*. The round also saw participation from Lionheart
Ventures, Happiness Capital, and Albert Wenger. Additionally,
existing investors Agronomics, CPT Capital, Good Seed Ventures,
Grazia Equity, and M Ventures participated in the round.
The startup will use the new funding to construct its pilot
plant, fast-track its commercial-scale production, and grow the
molecular biology and food science team. With the resulting
increase in R&D capacity, Formo plans to expand its product
portfolio to represent a wide variety of European dairy specialties
such as mozzarella and ricotta, with techniques designed in
collaboration in artisan cheesemakers.
"We are thrilled to join forces with additional top-tier
investors such as EQT, Lowercarbon Capital and Elevat3 Capital and
to further solidify our relationships with our existing
shareholders. Our excellent investor setup paired with our team of
interdisciplinary experts makes us uniquely positioned to define
the new gold standard of cheese," said Raffael Wohlgensinger,
Co-Founder and CEO of Formo.
"With our technology, we aspire to lead the paradigm shift
towards a more sustainable and equitable food system for this
planet," he said further. "To achieve our goal of a zero-carbon
economy, we need to invest at least as much attention and resources
into making our food system radically more sustainable as we are
investing into clean energy."
Formo domesticates microorganisms instead of cows, using
precision fermentation to create nature-identical dairy products.
Formo's cheeses have the same taste, texture, and functional
properties as animal-derived cheeses, but come at a substantially
lower cost for the environment, human health, and animal welfare.
With microorganisms being up to 20 times more efficient than cows
at converting feed into food, Formo can already undercut consumers'
willingness to pay at commercial production scale.
"For over 2 years we have been searching for a way to overcome
the challenges of our broken food system on a molecular level," Dr.
Britta Winterberg, Co-Founder, and CSO of Formo, said. "Today, we
are beyond excited to see our vision of a kinder, greener future
come to life through our delicious cheeses as we prepare for our
first product demonstration event in collaboration with
Michelin-starred chef Ricky Saward".
" When we choose to partner with the boldest and most ambitious
founders, we always start with purpose. In Formo, theirs was clear:
harness molecular processes to pioneer a radical transformation in
our food systems. To achieve such a vision, Raffa, Britta, and the
Formo team are demonstrating that the convergence of disciplines -
from frontier technology to brand development - is critical. Our
purpose at EQT is to support them in building this into a global
winner, and we are thrilled to join Formo in their journey toward
better planetary health." says Gregory Bernstein, Investor at EQT
Ventures.
"We're delighted to be giving further support to Formo, the
European leader in precision fermentation. Their progress
demonstrates our contention that the conventional dairy industry
will soon be upended by novel technologies helping to reduce
climate change and to improve human and animal health," says Jim
Mellon, Director of Agronomics.
"The true cost of dairy on human health, planetary health, and
animal welfare is devastating, yet governments across the world
still subsidize this industry. Formo's exceptional team has
successfully demonstrated how biotechnology can be applied to
create not just equally, but even better-performing products that
will be price-competitive in no time. This is just the beginning of
the dairy revolution!" says Christian Angermayer, Founding Partner
of Elevat3 Capital
ABOUT FORMO
Formo is a FoodTech company on a mission to bring the next
generation of dairy products to consumers. The startup is Europe's
first cellular agriculture company developing animal-free dairy
products using real, nature-identical milk proteins derived from
precision fermentation. In 2019, the startup was founded by Dr.
Britta Winterberg and Raffael Wohlgensinger to create a more
sustainable and ethical food system where change is not initiated
through consumer sacrifice but rather through hedonistic products
that are deliciously high-tech.
ABOUT EQT Ventures
EQT Ventures is a multi-stage VC fund that partners with the
most ambitious and boldest founders in Europe and the US. The fund
is based in Luxembourg and has investment advisors stationed in
Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco, Berlin, and Paris.
Fuelled by some of Europe's most experienced company builders and
scalers, EQT Ventures helps the next generation of entrepreneurs
with the capital and hands-on support needed to build global
winners.
ABOUT Elevat3 Capital
Elevat3 Capital is the Venture Capital Fund of serial
entrepreneur and investor Christian Angermayer and his family
office Apeiron Investment Group. Elevat3 is a Berlin-based VC fund
with Peter Thiel as a strategic partner to it. Elevat3 invests in
the next generation of founder teams that pioneer technology to
transform global markets. With its exceptional network, Elevat3
actively supports its portfolio companies to enable them to grow
rapidly and build international champions.
ABOUT Lowercarbon Capital
Lowercarbon Capital backs kickass companies that make real money
slashing CO2 emissions, sucking carbon out of the sky, and buying
us time to unfuck the planet.
PRESS CONTACT:
press@formo.bio
+49 174 1923319
High-Resolution images are available in Formo's Press Kit .
Schedule Four Information
Since this Subscription is considered a Substantial Transaction
under AIM Rule 12, this announcement requires certain disclosures
under Schedule Four. Formo is an early-stage pre revenue company
with operating costs of approximately EUR400k per month, and total
assets as at 30 June 2021 of EUR4.6 million including cash or near
cash of EUR2.7 million with no material liabilities.
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 16 companies at the Seed to Series B
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 the Cultivated Meat Sector
Funding in the cultivated meat sector is growing rapidly with
approximately US$ 170 million invested worldwide between 2016-2019
and over US$ 270 million raised in 2020 alone. Additional
financings are anticipated as the capital requirements of these
companies grows to build out and scale up manufacturing facilities.
Currently it is estimated that there are 60 companies globally
within the sector. AT Kearney, a global consultancy, has predicted
that Cultivated Meat's market share of meat consumption will be 35%
by 2040.
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR'). Upon the
publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information
Service ('RIS'), this inside information is now considered to be in
the public domain.
For further information please contact:
Agronomics Beaumont Cenkos Peterhouse
Limited Cornish Limited Securities Capital TB Cardew
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 Johnson Charles Goodfellow Joe McGregor
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+44 (0) 20 7930
0777
+44 (0) 1624 +44 (0) 7738
639396 +44 (0) 207 +44 (0) 207 +44 (0) 207 724 630
info@agronomics.im 628 3396 397 8900 469 0936 agronomics@tbcardew.com
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END
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September 13, 2021 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
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