TIDMANIC
Agronomics Limited
24 June 2021
24(th) June 2021
Agronomics Limited
("Agronomics" or the "Company")
Portfolio Company Formo conducts the first ever acceptance study
on fermentation-made animal-free dairy
Agronomics, a leading listed company in alternative proteins
with a focus on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat, is
pleased to announce portfolio company LegenDairy Foods GmbH,
trading as Formo, has conducted the first ever consumer acceptance
study on precision fermentation-made animal free dairy.
Agronomics co-led Formo's EUR 4 million seed round in December
2019, alongside M Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of
science and technology company Merck. Agronomics currently holds
6.4% equity interest in Formo on a fully diluted basis.
The full announcement is set out below, with no material changes
or adjustments:
Real cheese, no animals - More than 70% of consumers want
breakthrough cheese in their shopping baskets
-- First-ever consumer acceptance study of precision-fermentation-made animal-free dairy
-- 71% of respondents willing to buy animal-free dairy cheese, 79% willing to try
-- Enthusiasm from the outset will see animal-free dairy go
toe-to-toe with conventional dairy in $240bn cheese market
Berlin and Bath, 24th June 2021 - Precision-fermentation company
Formo and the University of Bath co-published the first large-scale
study of consumer acceptance for animal-free dairy products.
Researchers surveyed 5,054 individuals from Brazil, Germany, India,
the UK, and the USA to understand what consumers think of
animal-free dairy products.
Precision fermentation is a process that allows specific
proteins to be produced via microorganisms. By inserting a copied
stretch of cow DNA, microorganisms produce milk proteins. The
process is more efficient than using animals to make proteins and
avoids the negative side effects of industrial animal agriculture,
which is responsible for 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
The findings of the study, published in the journal Frontiers in
Sustainable Food Systems, show that consumers around the world are
ready for cheese made from real milk proteins produced by
microorganisms. Across countries and age groups, 79% of consumers
are willing to try precision-fermentation-derived dairy cheese,
with 71% willing to pay for such products. Across dietary
preferences, flexitarians showed the highest levels of enthusiasm
for these products. "Just as we have seen plant-based milk taking
an increasing share of the milk market in recent years, we now see
that consumers are ready for a new kind of animal-free dairy cheese
product." Christopher Bryant, PhD, of the University of Bath, said
"Seeing the growing consumer groups of flexitarians and young
people driving adoption of animal-free cheese is a big indicator
that these products will appeal to consumers far beyond the niche
markets of current vegan cheese".
Findings highlighted that consumers understood the big taste
improvements over current vegan cheese products, while also showing
that consumers across countries recognised the environmental and
ethical advantages of animal-free dairy, which causes 85-97% less
greenhouse gas emissions than conventional dairy.
"Most cheese lovers think current vegan cheeses are nowhere near
the flavour or functionality level that meets their cheese needs."
said Oscar Zollman Thomas, Formo's lead researcher on the project.
"Precision fermentation is allowing us to fundamentally change that
and make real cheese without animals involved".
This was reflected in another major finding of the research,
that those who currently eat the most cheese were the most likely
to want to buy animal-free dairy cheese.
"That finding was explosive because that's always how we've
understood the mission: Initiating change not through consumer
sacrifice, but rather through delicious, satisfying products" said
Oscar Zollman Thomas.
"We're hearing loud and clear that consumers are ready to
embrace animal-free dairy products", said Raffael Wohlgensinger,
Co-Founder & CEO at Formo. "There's never been a better time to
ask ourselves what we want from our food system and it's now that
politicians should support sustainable innovation like precision
fermentation. Where the future of food is concerned, fast-moving
environments like the US and Singapore are starting to become hubs
of innovation, so it's high time politicians here got on board with
the potential of alternative proteins through proactive
initiatives".
About Agronomics
Agronomics is a leading listed alternative proteins company with
a focus on cellular agriculture and cultivated meat. The Company
has established a portfolio of 16 companies at the Seed to Series B
stage in this rapidly advancing sector. It seeks to secure a 5-10%
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. These
technologies are driving a major disruption in agriculture,
offering solutions to improve sustainability, as well as addressing
human health, animal welfare and environmental damage. This
disruption will decouple supply chains from the environment and
animals, as well as being fundamental to feeding the world's
expanding population. A full list of Agronomics' portfolio
companies is available at https://agronomics.im/portfolio/ .
About the Cultivated Meat Sector
Funding in the cultivated meat sector is growing rapidly with
approximately US$ 170 million invested worldwide between 2016-2019
and over US$ 270 million raised in 2020 alone. Additional
financings are anticipated as the capital requirements of these
companies grows to build out and scale up manufacturing facilities.
Currently it is estimated that there are 80 companies globally
within the sector. AT Kearney, a global consultancy, has predicted
that Cultivated Meat's market share of meat consumption will be 35%
by 2040.
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR'). Upon the
publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information
Service ('RIS'), this inside information is now considered to be in
the public domain.
For further information please contact:
Agronomics Beaumont Cenkos Peterhouse TB Cardew
Limited Cornish Limited Securities Capital
Plc Limited
The Company Nomad Joint Broker Joint Broker Public Relations
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Richard Reed Roland Cornish Giles Balleny Lucy Williams Ed Orlebar
Denham Eke James Biddle Nick Searle Charles Goodfellow Joe McGregor
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+44 (0) 20
7930 0777
+44 (0) 1624 +44 (0) 7738
639396 +44 (0) 207 +44 (0) 207 +44 (0) 207 724 630
info@agronomics.im 628 3396 397 8900 469 0936 agronomics@tbcardew.com
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