Agronomics investee Mosa Meat raises EUR 40m

(Sharecast News) - Cellular agriculture investor Agronomics announced the completion of a €40m fundraising round by its portfolio company Mosa Meat on Wednesday. The AIM-traded firm said Mosa Meat, a frontrunner in cultivated beef production, would use the capital to expedite the scaling-up of its production processes and prepare its products for market entry.

Led by Lowercarbon Capital and M Ventures, a division of Merck Group, the oversubscribed round saw participation from an array of new investors, including government-backed entities such as Invest-NL, InvestEU, the Limburg Institute for Development and Financing (LIOF), and the Limburg Energy Fund (LEF).

Additionally, notable newcomers from the conventional meat sector, including PHW Group and XO Ventures, joined the round.

Agronomics said Mosa Meat was established in 2016 and recently inaugurated its fourth facility in November, bolstering its capacity for cow-free burgers.

The company was set to conduct the first official tastings of cultivated beef in the Netherlands later this year.

Agronomics, having invested €3.5m in Mosa Meat's series B round in September 2020, maintained an equity ownership of 1.68% on a fully-diluted basis, with no immediate impact on its carrying value due to the latest financing.

"Mosa Meat has been at the forefront of cultivated beef for over a decade," said Agronomics co-founder and executive director Jim Mellon.

"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."

At 1517 BST, shares in Agronomics were up 3.73% at 7.78p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.