Agronomics portfolio firm raises EUR40 million to scale up production

(Alliance News) - Agronomics Ltd on Wednesday said its portfolio company and cultivated beef production firm Mosa Meat BV has raised EUR40 million to finance further scaling of its production process.

Isle of Man-based venture capital firm Agronomics, which invests in cellular agriculture companies, said this is in order to prepare its products for market entry.

It said the oversubscribed round was led by Lowercarbon Capital LLC and M Ventures, part of Merck Group.

New investors include government-backed partners including Dutch state-owned impact investor Invest-NL, European Commission strategic development programme InvestEU, the Limburg Institute for Development & Financing and the Limburg Energy Fund.

Agronomics said additional new partners with a background in the conventional meat sector also participated in the round, including the PHW Group, which it described as one of Europe's largest poultry producers, alongside XO Ventures.

Agronomics invested EUR3.5 million into Mosa Meat's Series B round in September 2020, a position which is currently carried at GBP3.1 million or EUR3.7 million, subject to audit. The new financing has no impact on Agronomics' carrying value, with the company saying it continues to hold a 1.7% stake on a fully diluted basis.

"Mosa Meat has been at the forefront of cultivated beef for over a decade. With a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions in the food industry resulting from beef production alone, a long-term solution for beef production is essential. Today's announcement reinforces our confidence in Mosa Meat's technical and commercial expertise, and we look forward to their receiving regulatory approval later this year," said Agronomics Co-Founder & Executive Director Jim Mellon.

Shares in Agronomics were up 2.7% to 7.70 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.

By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News senior reporter

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