BSF raises £2.9m to accelerate development of lab-grown meat and leather products
() , a biotech company focused on lab-grown meat, announced it has raised £2.9m via an oversubscribed placing at 17p/share.
BSF issued a total of 17.2 million new shares at 17p/share, including 882,352 procured directly by the company at the same price. The price represents a 16% discount to BSF's closing price of 20.25p on Tuesday.
BSF will use the proceeds to provide working capital for its wholly owned subsidiary 3D Bio Tissues (3DBT), focused on lab-grown meat.
Specifically, BSF will accelerate development of 3DBT's cultivated meat fillets, aimed at demonstrating its patented "City-Mix" technology for cultivating meat, and expand City-Mix production capacity.
BSF said it has engaged over 60 cellular agriculture companies, 26 of which have progressed to new business opportunities, representing a c. 43% conversion rate. 22 of the 26 already have production evaluations underway, with a view of incorporating City-Mix into cultured media formulations.
Che Connon, Managing Director of BSF Enterprise, said: "The support we have achieved for our strategy is very pleasing. After engaging in a significant number of new business opportunities in 2022, our portfolio company 3DBT continues to build momentum and deliver on its strategy of developing City-Mix for a variety of high growth markets."
View from Vox
BSF's wholly-owned 3D Bio Tissues is growing rapidly and has a robust 2023 pipeline in place, that should be further supported by the additional £2.9m of raised capital.
While its shares were down 8% today on the discounted capital raise, markets are bullish on and its disruptive product as evidenced by its recent stock performance, with the shares up 220% in the past 6 months. Last month, BSF made news after it revealed an edible pork fillet using its City-Mix technology.
Although still in the early phases of commercial development, 3DBT’s breakthrough is encouraging in respect of both the potential for lowering the cost and - by more closely resembling the look, taste and texture of real meat - driving consumer acceptance of lab-grown meat.
What's more, lab-grown meat could be an important step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane from traditional meat production, which account for around a quarter of all greenhouse gases.
In addition to the food industry, BSF is targeting new global markets, including biotech companies engaged in gene therapy, stem cells and regenerative medicine, as well as life sciences companies. 3DBT has also begun development of lab-grown leather products.
BSF favours an indirect sales model for these markets and has already engaged distributors in the UK, France, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Italy, and the Netherlands.
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