London-listed Agronomics is an investor in alternative proteins with a focus on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat. It is one of the investors backing the Dutch lab-grown meat startup Meatable. In a recent development, Agronomics has invested a further €2M for 1,197 Preferred shares in Meatable.
The meat of the matter
According to Agronomics, the subscription will be paid using cash from the company’s own resources and will take Agronomics’ total cash investment in Meatable to €5M.
Following the subscription, Agronomics will hold 4,752 preferred shares in Meatable, representing an equity ownership, on a fully diluted basis, of 5.70 per cent.
Subject to audit, Agronomics will now carry this position in its accounts at a book value of €7.95M, representing an unrealised gain on cost of €2.95M and an IRR of 95 per cent.
Richard Reed, Chairman of Agronomics, says: “We are delighted to further support Meatable as one of the leading companies in the field of cultivated meat and a major holding in the Agronomics’ portfolio. We maintain our enthusiasm for Meatable, as they continue to scale-up production, achieve their scientific milestones, and move towards commercialisation.”
Agronomics has established a portfolio of 16 companies at the Seed to Series B stage in this sector. It claims to seek to secure a 5-10 per cent initial ownership in technologies with defensible intellectual property that offer new ways of producing food and materials with a focus on products historically derived from animals. Some of its portfolio companies include Mosa Meats, CellX, SuperMeat, Solar Foods, Meatable, Tropic Biosciences, LIVEKINDLY Collective, among others.
About Meatable
Meatable is a Dutch cultivated meat company that intends to change the meat industry’s impact on climate change and animal welfare by offering cultivated meat. Meatable’s technology is built and optimised by Stanford and Cambridge scientists to produce large batches of the cells needed to make meat in a matter of days to weeks.
Late last year, Meatable raised an additional $10M (nearly €9M) in seed funding. The funding round was led by an existing investor base including BlueYard Capital, with supplemental funds from angel investors including Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of TransferWise, and Albert Wenger, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures. The European Commission also contributed funds through its Eurostars Programme.
