REG - Agronomics Limited - Blue Naln raises US$33.5m in Series B priced round

AgronomicsAnnouncement

09/10/2023 07:15

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20231009:nRSI0507Pa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 0507P  Agronomics Limited  09 October 2023

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

("Agronomics" or the "Company")

 

Investee Company Update: BlueNalu Secures US$ 33.5 Million in Series B priced
round

 

Agronomics, a leading listed company focused on the field of cellular
agriculture, is pleased to announce that portfolio company BlueNalu, Inc.
("BlueNalu") has raised US$ 33.5 million from new and existing investors in a
Series B Financing (the "Series B").

 

The financing will enable the next stage of BlueNalu's growth and its
continued progress towards scaling and commericializing healthy and
sustainable seafood in the U.S. and around the world. BlueNalu plans to launch
its first commercial product, premium bluefin tuna toro, following regulatory
approval.

 

Agronomics has invested, in aggregate, US$ 8 million across BlueNalu's Seed
and Series A Financings and a pre-Series B Convertible Promissory Note
("CPN").  Following the close of the Series B, the CPN has been converted
into Series B Preferred Shares. Agronomics now holds an equity stake in
BlueNalu of 5.12% on a fully diluted basis.  Subject to audit, Agronomics
will now carry this position forward at a book value of £13.3m, an IRR of
26.85% and a MOIC of 2x.

 

The holding in BlueNalu will represent approximately 8% of the last published
Net Asset Value of the Company (30.06.23), including estimated post-balance
sheet date adjustments.

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

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

 

For further information please contact:

 Agronomics Limited   Beaumont Cornish Limited  Canaccord Genuity Limited       Cavendish Securities Plc  Peterhouse Capital Limited  SEC Newgate
 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 (Head of Equities)                                                         Anthony Hughes

                                                                                                                                      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

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. 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/)
.

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  IOEUPGMPUUPWGMR