TIDMANIC
RNS Number : 9350D
Agronomics Limited
08 March 2022
8(th) March 2022
Agronomics Limited
("Agronomics" or the "Company")
Agronomics co-leads SuperMeat's Series A Financing
Agronomics, the leading listed company focused on the field of
cellular agriculture, is pleased to announce it has co-led the
Series A Financing for portfolio company SuperMeat The Essence of
Meat Ltd ("SuperMeat") with a US$ 10 million investment,
subscribing for 188,158 Series A Preferred Shares. SuperMeat is a
leading cultivated chicken meat company based in Israel. The
funding round was co-led alongside New Agrarian Company Limited
("New Agrarian"). Following the close of the funding round,
Agronomics will have the right to appoint a board member to
SuperMeat and will have a 7.77% equity interest. The investment
will be made using cash from the Company's own resources.
Agronomics first invested in SuperMeat in December 2020, with a
US$ 2 million investment in the form of a SAFE (Simple Agreement
for Future Equity). This SAFE will convert to 119,551 Series A
Preferred Shares, representing a Multiple on Investable Capital
("MOIC") of 2.97. In February 2022, Agronomics purchased an
additional 50,774 Preferred Seed Shares in SuperMeat via a
secondary transaction from an existing shareholder for total
transaction cost of US$ 500,124 which will, subject to audit,
represent a MOIC of 5.04.
Agronomics will now carry the aggregate position in its accounts
at a book value of US$ 19.35 million, subject to audit, including
an unrealised gain on cost of US$ 6.95 million, representing an
internal rate of return of 207%. The SuperMeat position in the
Agronomics portfolio will represent approximately 10% of Net Asset
Value.
SuperMeat is a leading cultivated meat player, with their
bioprocess capable of producing cell densities of 150 million
cells/ml, as well as displaying strong product demonstration. In a
taste test that occurred in January 2022, SuperMeat's unseasoned
chicken was indistinguishable to conventional chicken as judged by
a panel of culinary experts . SuperMeat currently allows
individuals to visit their restaurant experience 'The Chicken' to
try their cultivated chicken products. At present, SuperMeat is
working to obtain regulatory approval in the US and Singapore for
its chicken products to be made available for inclusion in consumer
products. The funding raised by SuperMeat in this Series A
financing will be used to establish SuperMeat's first facility, as
the company seeks to commercialise its chicken product in the next
24 months.
Since this Acquisition is considered a Substantial Transaction
under AIM Rule 12, this announcement requires certain disclosures
under Schedule Four. SuperMeat is an early-stage company with no
revenues with operating costs of approximately US$ 260k per month,
and total assets as at 31 December 2020 of approximately US$ 3.3
million with no material liabilities.
Jim Mellon, co-founder and executive director of Agronomics
commented:-
" Agronomics is pleased to provide further support to SuperMeat,
one of the most established companies in this rapidly advancing
field. The technical progress they have made since our first
investment has been exceptional with some technical production
metrics at the upper end of what the Agronomics team has observed
in the entire field. This recently culminated in a landmark blind
tasting event which demonstrated SuperMeat's chicken to be
indiscernible from conventional chicken by culinary experts."
Ido Savir, co-founder and CEO of SuperMeat, added:-
"We are excited to take further steps towards commercialization
with the leadership and support of Agronomics. Agronomics, which
currently holds the largest portfolio of cellular agriculture
companies, provides a strong and professional support as well as a
global network of partners and connections invaluable for our path
to market. We are honoured to receive their continued support.
New Agrarian, the new unquoted entity formed to accept funds
from private equity investors seeking exposure to the field of
cellular agriculture also participated in the financing for
SuperMeat on the same terms as Agronomics with a US $5 million
investment and, following the investment, holds an aggregate
position, on a fully diluted basis, of 3.14%.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014, as
it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement,
this inside information is now considered to be in the public
domain.
About SuperMeat
SuperMeat, headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, is a food-tech
company working to supply the world with high-quality meat grown
directly from animal cells. Their products offer a delicious meat
experience and a high quality nutritional profile, while being
manufactured in a sustainable, slaughter-free way.
SuperMeat's proprietary cultivated meat platform allows food
companies to be at the forefront of the emerging cultivated meat
industry and manufacture a wide range of products containing
cultivated meat inside. SuperMeat is the first B2B company to
address the entire category of poultry meat from fat to muscle,
providing a complete solution to cultivated meat production.
The company has been showcasing the versatility of its meat
platform at various events at its pilot production plant, The
Chicken , the world's first farm-to-fork facility for local meat
production.
For more information about SuperMeat, visit Supermeat.com .
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 20 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 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 $1.8 trillion investment
will be required in order to produce just 10% of the world's
protein using this technology, means that we are on the cusp of a
multi-decade flow of capital to build out manufacturing facilities.
Funding in the field of cellular agriculture is accelerating,
however still less than US$ 2 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
---------------- --------------- --------------- ------------------------
Richard Reed Roland Cornish Giles Balleny Lucy Williams Ed Orlebar
Denham Eke James Biddle Michael Charles Joe McGregor
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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