Agronomics Share News (ANIC)

(Sharecast News) - Agronomics has co-led lab-grown meat developer Meatable's seed 2 financing round of around €6m (£5.38m), it announced on Thursday.
The AIM-traded firm said that as part of the round, it invested €1m for 997 seed 2 preferred shares, which would be paid for using cash from its own resources.

It had previously invested €2m in the initial seed financing round in the form of a convertible loan note, as it announced on 20 December.

Following the new subscription, the convertible loan note would convert to 2,558 seed 2 preferred shares at a 20% discount to the subscription price.

As a result, Agronomics would then hold 3,555 seed 2 preferred shares in Meatable at a book value of €3.57m, and own 6.46% of Meatable on a fully-diluted basis.

"The coronavirus has highlighted that the exploitation of animals for their meat could be a major risk for human health and perversely the stability of the food supply chains," said Agronomics chairman Richard Reed.

"Our confidence is growing that Meatable is a clear differentiated player in the cultivated meat sector which has the potential to end up having a key role in addressing this risk along with the additional benefits to animal welfare and environmental sustainability."

Since Agronomics' initial participation, Meatable had reportedly made "strong" technical progress, including producing both muscle and fat from its reprogrammed 'Opti-Ox' porcine cells, and remained on target for its prototype in the third quarter of 2020.

Krijn de Nood, chief executive officer and co-founder of Meatable, said his firm was "pleased" to secure additional funding, despite challenging market conditions.

"This funding will enable us to accelerate our cost reduction, scaling and product development efforts as we prepare for a more significant series A financing round."

At 1239 BST, shares in Agronomics were down 3.57% at 6.75p.