Agronomics Follow on Investment in GALY CO.
14th March 2022
("Agronomics" or the "Company")
Agronomics Follow on Investment in GALY CO.
Agronomics, the leading listed company focused on the field of cellular agriculture, is pleased to announce it has invested a further US$ 1 million into GALY CO. ("GALY"), an existing portfolio company focused on plant cell culture. The Company will subscribe for 364,710 Series A Preferred Stock (the "Subscription") using cash from the Company's own resources. Following this investment, Agronomics will own an 4.11% equity stake in GALY.
GALY is a leading plant cell culture company with disruptive technology for growing cotton from cells in a laboratory facility rather than utilising traditional soil-based methods. It is headquartered in Boston, US, with research also in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Agronomics first invested in GALY in 2020, with a US$ 500,000 investment in the form of a SAFE ("Simple Agreement for Future Equity"). This SAFE has converted to 909,090 Series A Preferred Shares, representing an IRR of 79% and Multiple on Invested Capital of 4.94.
In aggregate, Agronomics will hold 1,273,800 Series A Preferred Stock in GALY. Subject to audit, Agronomics will now carry this aggregate position in its accounts at a book value of US$ 3.47 million, representing an unrealised gain on cost of US$ 1.97 million. The holding will account for approximately 1.82% of Net Asset Value.
Jim Mellon, co-founder and executive director of Agronomics commented:-
"We're delighted to invest further in GALY to help drive their mission to revolutionise cotton production, safeguard our environment, and disrupt conventional agriculture. GALY has successfully demonstrated its ability to produce cotton from plant cells and Agronomics sees huge potential for other opportunities to arise from this technology. We're looking forward to working with the team on their exciting new growth phase."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation No. 596/2014 on market abuse. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
GALY is producing cotton grown from cells in a facility, not plants on a field. They have developed a process to grow cotton (and other products) in vitro that is 10x faster, uses 80% less resources, independent of land or weather and with the potential for 5x-10x higher margins than traditional products.
Agronomics is the leading listed company focused on the field of cellular agriculture, inclusive of cultivated meat, plant cell culture and precision fermentation. The Company has established a portfolio of 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. A full list of Agronomics' portfolio companies is available at https://agronomics.im/ .
About Cellular Agriculture
Cellular agriculture is the production of agricultural 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$ 2 billion has been invested worldwide since the industry's inception in 2016.
For further information please contact:
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Agronomics Limited |
Beaumont Cornish Limited |
Cenkos Securities Plc |
Peterhouse Capital Limited |
TB Cardew |
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The Company |
Nomad |
Joint Broker |
Joint Broker |
Public Relations |
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Richard Reed Denham Eke |
Roland Cornish James Biddle |
Giles Balleny Michael Johnson |
Lucy Williams Charles Goodfellow |
Ed Orlebar Joe McGregor |
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+44 (0) 1624 639396 |
+44 (0) 207 628 3396 |
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