RCS - Agronomics Limited - CellX Opens Chinese Cultivated Meat Pilot Factory

AgronomicsAnnouncement

17/08/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 5635J  Agronomics Limited  17 August 2023

17 August 2023

Agronomics Limited

("Agronomics" or the "Company")

Portfolio Company CellX Opens China's First Cultivated Meat Pilot Factory

Agronomics (ANIC:LSE), the leading listed company focused on the field of
cellular agriculture, is pleased to announce that Shanghai based portfolio
company CellX Limited ("CellX"), has inaugurated  China's first cultivated
meat pilot factory, setting the stage for an anticipated commercial launch by
2025.

The completion of the large-scale facility, Future Food Factory X, follows the
firm's strategic partnership with food manufacturing specialists Shanghai
Tofflon Science and Technology Co., Ltd. announced in February
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/agronomics/news/rns/story/x4gl5dx) 2023
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/agronomics/news/rns/story/x4gl5dx) and
the successful US$ 6.5 million Series A+ financing announced in June 2023
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/agronomics/news/rns/story/x5zje9x) .

Having introduced its cell-cultured pork to samplers back in 2021
(https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/cellx-cell-based-pork-funding/) , CellX is in
the process of applying for regulatory approval in both Singapore and the US,
with the aim to launch by 2025.

The pilot plant uses proprietary cell cultivation technology and operates with
fully digitalised intelligent management systems. As China's first
"transparent food space" for cultivated meat, CellX integrates technology
research and development, pilot production, and interactive consumer
experiences at the new facility. Consumers are now able to sample products
made from cultivated meat at the plant.

CellX will look to target the high-end market, with further plans to introduce
mass-market products as it continues to scale up and reduce costs in the
future. The materially lower cost of bioreactors compared to the US and
Europe, combined with the Chinese government's incentives for cultivated meat
as part of its five-year plan
(https://www.adb.org/publications/14th-five-year-plan-high-quality-development-prc)
, is expected to contribute to the efforts to lower prices.

Agronomics has invested a total of US$ 2.05 million in CellX since its
inception in 2020 and has an equity ownership of 4.98% on a fully diluted
basis.

 

About CellX

CellX is a cellular agriculture company based in Shanghai, working to bring
cultivated meat products to consumers in China and around the world. Its goal
is to provide a sustainable source of animal protein, better health for all
human beings, and improved animal welfare. Founded in 2020, CellX has built a
top R&D team of 40 and focuses on building platform technologies with a
multi-species approach.

 

CellX is collaborating with top universities and leading companies around the
world to advance the commercialisation of cultivated meat. The company is also
accelerating market launch and cultivated meat approval in the APAC region.

 

More information at www.cellx.cn (http://www.cellx.cn/)

 

About Agronomics

Agronomics (https://agronomics.im/) is the leading listed venture capital firm
with a focus on cellular agriculture. The Company has established a portfolio
of over 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.

 

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 $1.8 trillion investment will be required in order to
produce just 10% of the world's protein using this technology, means that we
are on the cusp of a multi-decade flow of capital to build out manufacturing
facilities. Funding in the field of cellular agriculture is accelerating,
however, still, less than US$ 5 billion has been invested worldwide since the
industry's inception in 2016.

 

 

For further information please contact:

 Agronomics           Beaumont              Canaccord Genuity Limited  Cenkos                Peterhouse Capital    SEC Newgate

 Limited              Cornish Limited                                  Securities Plc        Limited
 The Company          Nomad                 Joint Broker               Joint Broker          Joint Broker          Public Relations
 Richard Reed         Roland Cornish        Andrew Potts               Giles Balleny         Lucy Williams         Bob Huxford

 Denham Eke           James Biddle          Harry Rees                 Michael Johnson       Charles Goodfellow    George Esmond

                                            Alex Aylen                                                             Anthony Hughes

                                            (Head of Equities)                                                     Alice Cho
 +44 (0) 1624 639396  +44 (0) 207 628 3396  +44 (0) 207 523 8000       +44 (0) 207 397 8900  +44 (0) 207 469 0936  agronomics@secnewgate.co.uk

 info@agronomics.im

 

 

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