Agronomics investee Solar Foods raises EUR 8m

(Sharecast News) - Cellular agriculture investor Agronomics announced on Friday that its portfolio company Solar Foods had raised an additional €8m through Finnish investment organiser Springvest. The AIM-traded firm said the supplementary funding marked a subsequent close to Solar Food's series B round, which initially took place in November, catapulting the total raised capital to €16m.

It noted that Solar Foods' inaugural commercial-scale factory, Factory 01, started full operations in April, with an anticipated annual production capacity of 160 tons of 'Solein'.

Agronomics said Solar Foods had made significant strides in regulatory approval, having already secured clearance for Solein in Singapore.

Collaborating with Finnish food giant Karl Fazer, Solar Foods was integrating Solein into a chocolate snack, and had submitted a dossier to the European Food Safety Authority and was actively engaged in discussions with multiple prospective clients to integrate Solein into their existing product lines.

Agronomics said its investment in Solar Foods to date stood at €6m.

As detailed in its unaudited interim results, the investment was currently valued at £11.4m, reflecting an uplift of £6.3m.

The recent funding round retained the same terms as those established in November, with no alteration to Agronomics' position value.

"Solar Foods has shown impressive execution with the funds they have raised to date," said Agronomics executive chair Jim Mellon.

"It is one of the few companies in this field with a wholly owned and fully operational factory and regulatory approval which puts Solar Foods as one of the most advanced cell ag companies globally.

"We are very much looking forward to seeing product sales begin in Singapore and for regulatory approval in Europe."

At 1445 BST, shares in Agronomics were up 2.5% at 8.2p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.