RCS - Agronomics Limited - Portfolio Company Solar Foods Update

AgronomicsAnnouncement

26/10/2022 09:30

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20221026:nRSZ1723Ea&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 1723E  Agronomics Limited  26 October 2022

26th October 2022

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

 

("Agronomics" or the "Company")

 

Portfolio Company Solar Foods Receives Novel Food Regulatory Approval for its
Solein protein grown with CO2 and Electricity

 

 

Agronomics, the leading listing company in cellular agriculture, is delighted
to share that its Finnish foodtech portfolio company Solar Foods Oy, "Solar
Foods", has received its first regulatory approval in Singapore for its novel
protein by the Singapore Food Agency. Agronomics has invested a total of EUR 6
million to date and owns approximately 5.80% of Solar Foods, subject to
conversion of the outstanding CLN.

 

The full announcement is set out below without any material changes.

 

 
Solar Foods receives novel food regulatory approval for a protein grown with CO2 and electricity

 

The regulatory approval for the novel food, given by the Singapore Food Agency
(SFA), allows for the sale of food products containing Solein® in Singapore.
The highly sustainable protein is planned to begin commercial production and
sales in 2024.

Finnish foodtech company Solar Foods submitted a novel food dossier on Solein
for SFA's consideration in September 2021. Solar Foods first commercial-scale
production facility, Factory 01, is set to begin operations in Finland in
2024.

The regulatory approval is a major milestone for both Solar Foods and global
food supply in general.

A historic moment for food: "Comparable to the discovery of the potato"

Solein is a new crop to harvest for humankind, probably for the first time in
centuries. Disconnected from the limitations of traditional agriculture, this
type of production method has the potential to transform the sustainability,
availability and transparency of what we eat and where food can be produced.

"I'd compare this to the discovery of the potato: we are introducing an
entirely new ingredient to the world of food. It's a watershed moment for how
we think of what we eat", commented Solar Foods CEO Pasi Vainikka.

"This is also a huge day for us as a company. The food revolution we have been
working towards for years has taken a major step forward and we are highly
excited about the prospect of bringing Solein to the market in Singapore. We
have tested Solein rigorously in a wide variety of foods over recent years.
However, the impact of any food product, no matter how innovative, is truly
realised only once it can be put on the plates of consumers."

Singapore is first, but other markets are expected to follow

Solar Foods plans to seek GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status
assessment for Solein soon in the United States, and applications for novel
food authorisation have been filed earlier in other key markets such as the UK
and the European Union.

"As urbanisation continues across the globe, megacities and metropolitan areas
like Singapore will need more sustainable solutions to feed their citizens.
Solein represents an answer to this challenge; a vision where food is grown
with minimal resources and without arable land in deserts, Arctic regions,
cities, or even outer space. Our pioneering bioprocess is all about making
something that was previously impossible now possible", Vainikka describes.

What is Solein?

 

●    Solein is a microbial protein-rich powder that contains all the
essential amino acids. It can be used to replace existing proteins in a
variety of foods, for example in alternative dairy and meat, different snacks
and beverages, noodles and pasta, or breads and spreads. It is the first ever
novel food disconnected from the limits of traditional agriculture. This type
of production method has the potential to transform the sustainability,
availability and transparency of what we eat and where food can be produced.

●    Solein is produced using a bioprocess where microbes are fed with
gases (carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen) and small amounts of nutrients.
The bioprocess resembles winemaking, with carbon dioxide and hydrogen
replacing sugar as the source of carbon and energy, respectively.

●    Solein is 65-70% protein, 5-8% fat, 10-15% dietary fibres and 3-5%
mineral nutrients. The macronutrient composition of Solein cells is very
similar to that of dried soy or algae. Solein provides iron and B vitamins and
is exceptionally functional. Solein can be used with a wide variety of other
ingredients: it vanishes into foods and doesn't change the taste of familiar,
everyday food products.

●    The production of Solein is not reliant on agriculture, weather, or
climate: it can be produced in harsh conditions such as deserts, Arctic areas,
even space. The process does not require animals or photosynthetic plants,
making Solein the world's most sustainable protein.

●    Solein will become available for commercial use for the first time.
It is aimed at food brands looking for nutritious, functional, and sustainable
protein ingredients of consistent quality that can be reliably delivered for
their products. Singapore is the first market to grant Solein a regulatory
approval, but Solar Foods is also seeking authorisations in other markets
across the world.

●    Factory 01 is Solar Foods' first commercial production facility,
which will begin to produce Solein in 2024. Construction of the facility
started in Vantaa, Finland during Q4 2021. Factory 01 will scale Solein
production to a level where it can be brought to market for the first time.
Solar Foods has plans to expand its network of production facilities in the
coming years.

●    Learn more about Solein at www.solein.com (http://www.solein.com/)

For more information and requests for interviews:

Solar Foods Ltd.

Pasi Vainikka

DSc (Tech), CEO

pasi@solarfoods.com

+358 10 579 3286

About Solar Foods Ltd (https://solarfoods.com/) .

Solar Foods produces protein using carbon dioxide and electricity. Solein
production, independent of weather and climate conditions, liberates global
protein production from the constraints of traditional agriculture. Solar
Foods was founded in Espoo, Finland, in 2017 by Dr Pasi Vainikka, Dr
Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, Sami Holmström, Jari Tuovinen, Professor Jero Ahola,
and Janne Mäkelä as a spinoff from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
and LUT University. www.solarfoods.com (http://www.solarfoods.com/)

 

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 24 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 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              Canaccord                        Cenkos                Peterhouse Capital

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

 Denham Eke                                       James Biddle          Harry Rees                       Max Gould             Charles Goodfellow    Ed Orlebar

                                                                        Alex Aylen (Head of Equities)    Michael Johnson                             Alistair Walker
 +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) 207 523 8000                                                    +44 (0) 7738 724 630

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

 

 

This information is provided by Reach, the non-regulatory press release distribution service of RNS, part of the London Stock Exchange. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

Reach is a non-regulatory news service. By using this service an issuer is confirming that the information contained within this announcement is of a non-regulatory nature. Reach announcements are identified with an orange label and the word “Reach” in the source column of the News Explorer pages of London Stock Exchange’s website so that they are distinguished from the RNS UK regulatory service. Other vendors subscribing for Reach press releases may use a different method to distinguish Reach announcements from UK regulatory news.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  NRAFIFFTIDLRFIF