Clean Food Group Update
Summary by AI BETAClose X
Agronomics Limited
("Agronomics" or the "Company")
Clean Food Group secures £4.5 million investment led by Clean Growth Fund and New Agrarian
and awarded £0.7 million Innovate UK grant
Agronomics (LSE: ANIC), the leading listed company focused on clean food, announces that portfolio company Clean Food Group Limited ("CFG") has secured a new £4.5 million investment led by Clean Growth Fund and New Agrarian Company Limited. CFG has also secured a £0.7 million non-dilutive grant from Innovate UK, further strengthening the Company's financial position.
The funding was announced at in-cosmetics Global Paris, the leading global event for personal care ingredients, and will be used to complete the scale-up of CFG's one million-litre fermentation manufacturing facility in Knowsley, Liverpool. The investment will expand production capacity and accelerate commercialisation of CFG's high-performance oils and fats.
The Knowsley site positions CFG as the world's largest manufacturer of yeast-derived oils and fats, enabling the company to meet growing global demand for sustainable, locally produced alternatives to traditional agricultural and tropical oil supply chains. The global sustainable food market was valued at US$ 315 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach US$ 524 billion by 2032 at a CAGR of 6.7%.
Jim Mellon, Executive Chair, Agronomics, said: "Supply chain fragility is one of the defining risks of our time. War, climate volatility and trade disputes are presenting a significant challenge to manufacturers; ingredients once assumed to be readily available are no longer guaranteed. Clean Food Group is addressing this head-on, using scalable science and technology to build resilience and sustainability into how we produce and source key ingredients used across food and cosmetics. This funding will accelerate CFG's commercialisation and impact, and we look forward to continuing to support the company on its journey."
To date, Agronomics has invested a total of £1.6 million in CFG which, subject to audit, is currently carried at £7.0 million. This position represents c.5.0% of Agronomics' last stated Net Asset Value as of 31 December 2025. As this investment round is structured as a convertible loan note ("CLN"), Agronomics' current equity interest in CFG remains unchanged. As the CLN does not imply an equity valuation for CFG unless and until converted, Agronomics does not consider that this transaction has any impact on the carrying value of its existing shareholding.
Jim Mellon is the Co-Chair of CFG, Chair of SEED Innovations Limited ("SEED") and Chair of New Agrarian Company Limited ("NACL"), an affiliate company of Agronomics. SEED contributed £260,000 to the CLN and NACL US$ 2 million.
The full announcement from CFG is set out below, reproduced without material change:
Clean Food Group
('CFG' or the 'Group')
£4.5 million investment led by Clean Growth Fund and New Agrarian
Funding to accelerate scale-up of world-leading Knowsley fermentation facility
Clean Food Group, a leading UK biotech manufacturer pioneering sustainable oils and fats through fermentation, confirms a £4.5 million investment led by Clean Growth Fund and New Agrarian, two specialist investors dedicated to fostering sustainable growth in food technology. CFG has also secured a £700,000 non-dilutive grant from Innovate UK, further strengthening the Company's financial position.
Following the acquisition of CFG's one million-litre fermentation manufacturing facility in Knowsley, Liverpool in September 2025, this funding-announced today at the Company's in-cosmetics Global debut in Paris-provides capital to complete the scale-up of the site, expand production capacity and accelerate commercialisation of the Company's high-performance oils and fats.
The Knowsley site positions CFG as the world's largest manufacturer of yeast-derived oils and fats, enabling the Company to meet growing global demand for sustainable, locally produced alternatives to traditional agricultural and tropical oil supply chains. The global sustainable food market was valued at US$315 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach US$524 billion by 2032 at a CAGR of 6.7%.[2]
CFG's proprietary fermentation platform supports the manufacture of high-performance oils and fats that can deliver both sustainability and functionality at commercial scale, helping industries transition toward cleaner, more resilient ingredient systems across food, cosmetics and pet nutrition markets.
The Group continues to appreciate the support from its existing shareholders including institutional investor SEED Innovations and industry partner Döhler Group, one of the world's leading ingredient companies who are also supporting CFG's commercial scale up.
Tom Ellen, Chief Financial Officer of Clean Food Group, said: "We are extremely pleased to have the continued support of Clean Growth Fund and a new partner in New Agrarian, two highly respected specialist investors in sustainable food and industrial biotechnology.
"Their support, together with the Innovate grant, represents a strong endorsement of Clean Food Group's significant progress and the scale of the opportunity ahead. The capital raised will enable the Company to bring on stream the world's largest yeast-derived oils and fats facility and to deliver on our long-term vision for sustainable food manufacturing."
Rodrigo Hortega de Velasco, Managing Partner at Döhler Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Döhler Group, commented: "We are pleased to support Clean Food Group in this latest funding round and proud to have been part of the Company's scale-up journey to date. CFG has consistently demonstrated both the strength of its technology and the commercial potential of its sustainable oils and fats platform. The acquisition of the Knowsley facility marks a significant milestone, enabling production at a scale that brings these innovative products closer to widespread commercial reality. We look forward to continuing our collaboration as CFG advances towards full-scale market deployment."
Jim Mellon, Chairman and Founder of New Agrarian, added: "Supply chain fragility is one of the defining risks of our time. War, climate volatility, and trade disputes are presenting a huge challenge to manufacturers; the ingredients we assumed would always be available are no longer guaranteed. Clean Food Group is addressing this problem head-on, using scalable science and technology to build genuine resilience and sustainability into the way we produce and source key ingredients used in everything from food to cosmetics. For me, this sits at a rare intersection: a compelling investment case and a genuine solution to one of the most pressing challenges of our generation."
Building the future of sustainable oils and fats
Clean Food Group's mission is to enable a more sustainable and resilient global food system by producing essential oils and fats through fermentation, using food waste feedstocks and scalable microbial production.
The Company is focused on reshaping how key ingredients are made, supporting the transition toward localised, low-impact manufacturing that reduces reliance on environmentally damaging supply chains, while meeting the needs of global consumer and industrial markets.
About Clean Food Group
CFG is a leading UK biotech manufacturer of sustainable oils and fats for the global food, cosmetic and pet food industries. Through its proprietary CLEAN OilCell™ technology platform, CFG delivers functional oils (CLEAN Oil™) and fats (CLEAN Fat™) at price parity to agriculture alternatives, whilst meeting the growing need for local and sustainable production. In 2025, its CleanOil™ 25 product received approval to be used as a cosmetics ingredient in the UK, US and Europe.
Founded in 2022 after eight years of pioneering research, CFG manufactures its oils and fats from food waste, leveraging scalable yeast strains and fermentation technology to deliver sustainable alternatives to traditional oil and fat ingredients. With the manufacturing process now validated at scale and significantly bolstered by the transformation acquisition of a 1 million litre fermentation facility in Knowsley, Liverpool in 2025, CFG has strategic and industrial collaborations in place with leading global FMCG and ingredients manufacturers and has a strong demand pipeline for its products.
CFG has an experienced management team with a successful track record in scaling businesses in high growth regulated industries. For more information on CFG, please visit cleanfood.group.
About Agronomics
Agronomics is a leading London-listed company focused on investment opportunities within the field of cellular agriculture. The Company has established a portfolio of over 20 companies developing technologies that produce food and materials historically derived from animals, offering solutions for improved sustainability, human health, and food security.
A full list of Agronomics' portfolio companies is available at www.agronomics.im.
For further information, please contact:
|
Agronomics Limited |
Beaumont Cornish Limited |
Cavendish Capital Markets Limited |
Canaccord Genuity Limited |
33Seconds Limited |
|
The Company |
Nomad |
Joint Broker |
Joint Broker |
Public Relations |
|
Jim Mellon Denham Eke |
Roland Cornish James Biddle |
Giles Balleny Michael Johnson |
Andrew Potts Harry Pardoe |
Jack Ferris Amber Carr |
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+44 (0) 1624 639396 info@agronomics.im |
+44 (0) 207 628 3396 |
+44 (0) 207 397 8900 |
+44 (0) 207 523 8000 |
agronomics@33seconds.co |
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