Agronomics unveils minimum £50m fundraise

The alternative meat investment vehicle said it will use funds to invest in new opportunities in the cultivated meat sector and other areas.

Agronomics is looking to raise a minimum of £50m, the AIM-listed investment vehicle which invests in cultivated meat and alternative proteins announced today.

Agronomics is issuing shares at 22p and warrants exercisable at 28.5p a share as part of a conditional subscription and placing.

The firm said it had already raised £28.88m through the issue of new ordinary shares and now expects to raise a minimum of £21.12m through the share issue.

Agronomics said it will use the funds to further invest in its “current portfolio companies and projects, investment in new opportunities within the ‘cultivated meat’ sector, and other related sectors, and development and commercialisation of intellectual property where the company holds an interest".

Agronomics currently invests in a portfolio of 16 firms.

Richard Reed, non-executive chairman, Agronomics commented: “Agronomics has expanded rapidly over the past two years, and this financing will further accelerate its growth. 

"We anticipate it will provide the full funding to support our existing portfolio companies through their next financing rounds, while also giving us sufficient capital to pursue acquisitions of new investments in this exciting field as it enters into what we expect will be a multi-decade growth phase.”

Its shares were down 30 per cent or 11.01p at 25.99p after the announcement, which was still above the placing price.

Agronomics launched in 2019 “with a focus on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat”. 

Its invested assets, which at the end of last year stood at £26.9m, now include stakes in 16 startups including Singapore-based Shiok Meats, which grows cell-based shrimp and VitroLabs which used the cells from a single animal to make leather.

Investor and entrepreneur Jim Mellon, who has been interviewed by Future Food Finance, is a director of the firm.