Investee Company Update: Clean Food Group

Seed Innovations Limited

14 August 2023

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014, as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

14 August 2023 

SEED Innovations Limited

("SEED" or the "Company")

Investee Company Update: Clean Food Group

Successful fundraise of approximately £2.3 million

SEED Innovations Ltd, the AIM-quoted company investment company providing shareholders with exposure to early-stage health, wellness and medical cannabis companies, to which, in normal circumstances, they have limited access to, is pleased to announce that it has further invested a total of £216,000 in Clean Food Group Ltd ("Clean Food Group" or "CFG"), a UK-based food-tech business delivering sustainable oils and fats solutions to the world's food and cosmetics manufacturers, ("the Investment").  The Investment is part of a fundraise of approximately £2.3 million announced by CFG with proceeds to be used to accelerate the commercialisation of its sustainable oils and fats technology ("the Fundraise").

This latest funding round completed at £0.165 (16.5 pence) per share and gives CFG a suggested post-money valuation of approximately £22.3 million.

Following this latest round of funding which is the third round in which SEED has participated, SEED will have a holding of 7,161,336 shares representing 5.8% of CFG's total issued share capital, with an implied valuation of approximately £1.2 million based on the latest issue price.

Highlights

-      Clean Food Group is a UK-based food-tech business delivering sustainable oils and fats solutions to the world's food and cosmetics manufacturers, with the mission to deliver scalable, healthier, competitively priced ingredients that have a positive impact on the economic, environmental, and social health of the planet

-      Fundraise is being supported by industrial food specialists Doehler Group and Alianza Team, as the global food industry looks to invest in healthier and more sustainable food choices for future generations, along with AIM listed Agronomics Limited (AIM:ANIC) who are continuing to support CFG

-      Proceeds of the Fundraise will enable Clean Food Group to accelerate the scale up of its technology platform whilst also advancing critical regulatory and commercial pathways

-      CFG expects to complete a Series A funding in 2024, by which time the business will have validated technology at a commercial scale and have clear line of sight to near term revenue generation.

Commenting on the Fundraise, Lance de Jersey, Finance Director of SEED said:

"We are delighted that despite challenging market conditions, CFG has successfully raised approximately £2.3 million to further expand its business and deliver on its stated growth strategy. We saw the potential of CFG in 2022, when we invested £171,000 into the business and we are very pleased to be able to continue to support CFG and its team in the recent fund-raising round.  I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the CFG team for all that they have achieved to date and look forward to following its development in the future."

The following announcement is set out without material changes or adjustments and the announcement in full can be accessed from the following link: https://cleanfood.group/

Start of CFG's announcement:

UK food-tech business Clean Food Group announces additional £2.3m funding to scale operations in advance of Series A

£10m of funding to date to develop Company's sustainable oils and fats technology

Industrial giants Doehler Group and Alianza Team invest and confirm strategic collaborations

London, 14 August 2023: Pioneering UK-based bio-tech business Clean Food Group has announced a further £2.3 million in funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its sustainable oils and fats technology. International investment has come from industrial food specialists Doehler Group and Alianza Team as the global food industry looks to invest in healthier and more sustainable food choices for future generations. Agronomics, the leading listed investment company focussed on Cellular Agriculture, and SEED Innovations Ltd, the AIM-listed fund focused on investments in global health opportunities, have also shown their continued support and participated in the latest funding round.

Capital raised from this funding will enable Clean Food Group to accelerate the scale-up of its technology platform while advancing critical regulatory and commercial pathways. Clean Food Group expects to complete a Series A funding in 2024, by which time the business will have validated the technology at a commercial scale and have a clear line of sight to near term revenue generation. The business will raise funds at Series A to support the build out of a commercial scale manufacturing facility.

In addition to the collaboration agreement with Alianza Team, announced by the Company on 8 August 2023, Clean Food Group also recently signed a services agreement with Doehler Group, designed to rapidly scale its fermentation process to a commercial level, and enable the manufacture of product batches required for regulatory approval for Cosmetics and Food applications.  The scale-up process with Doehler is now well advanced, with a successful fermentation run at 1,000 litres recently completed; the manufacture of product batches for the regulatory approvals will be completed later this year.  

Additionally, in 2023, Clean Food Group strengthened its Operational team with the hires of Dr. James Mercer, Head of Manufacturing and Scale-up, and Andrea Cattaruzza as Head of Product. James will be responsible for the scale-up of the Company's technology and brings over 25 years of experience in industrial fermentation and scale-up of alternative proteins, having previously held senior operational roles at Quorn, Croda, and DuPont, amongst others. Andrea brings 30 years of experience from Mars Global Chocolate, most recently as Director of Science. Andrea will drive Clean Food Group's product strategy, developing high performance, sustainable ingredients for commercial partners.

Clean Food Group Co-founder and CEO Alex Neves says, "We are delighted with the rapid progress the business has made in the past year. The successful conclusion of this current funding round validates the important strides our business is taking in solving critical sustainability and supply chain challenges facing our food and cosmetic manufacturer customers. We are now in a great position to validate our technology at a commercial scale, advance our regulatory pathways and develop our growing list of commercial partners in advance of our Series A next year".

Clean Food Group's technology platform is the result of eight years of pioneering research led by Professor Chris Chuck, Technical Lead at Clean Food Group. The proprietary technology platform uses proven, scalable yeast strains and fermentation technology and uses food waste as its food source to deliver sustainable alternatives to traditional oil and fat ingredients. 

End of CFG's announcement

AIM Rule 12 Disclosures

CFG is a pre-revenue company.  In the unaudited financial statements for the period 1 November 2021 to 31 December 2022, CFG reported a loss of £844,111. This latest funding round completed at £0.165 (16.5 pence) per share suggests a post money valuation of approximately £22.3 million.

- Ends -

For further information on the Company please visit:    www.seedinnovations.co   or contact: 

Ed McDermott  Lance de Jersey	SEED Innovations Ltd	E: [e-mail]
James Biddle  Roland Cornish	Beaumont Cornish Limited,  Nomad	T: (0)20 7628 3396
Isabella Pierre  Damon Heath	Shard Capital Partners LLP  Broker	T: (0)20 7186 9927
Catherine Leftley  Ana Ribeiro Isabelle Morris	St Brides Partners Ltd,  Financial PR	E: [e-mail]

Notes 

Seed Innovations Ltd 

SEED Innovations is an AIM quoted investment company focused primarily on disruptive high growth life sciences and technology businesses particularly within the medical cannabis arena. The Company's strategy is to identify early-stage opportunities that have an upcoming investment catalyst and grow its portfolio in terms of value whilst limiting the number of investee companies to a level where relevant time can be devoted to each. 

About Clean Food Group

Clean Food Group is a UK-based food-tech business delivering sustainable oils and fats solutions to the world's food and cosmetics manufacturers, with the mission to deliver scalable, healthier, competitively priced ingredients that have a positive impact on the economic, environmental, and social health of the planet.

Clean Food Group is founded by a team with key experience in growing bio-tech, food industry and retail businesses supported by established venture capital and family office investors with a track record supporting fast-growth start-up companies in highly regulated industries. Clean Food Group's proprietary technology platform has been developed as a result of 8 years pioneering research by Professor Chris Chuck, technical lead at Clean Food Group, and the University of Bath.

 

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