Solar Foods completes €8 million Series B financing round

Agronomics has announced that its portfolio company Solar Foods has raised €8 million in a Series B financing round.

The round was led by the Finland-based investment organiser Springvest Ovi. Existing investors participated alongside Springvest via a private placement anticipated to close within two weeks.

The private placement includes existing investors Happiness Capital, Lifeline Ventures, VTT Ventures and Fazer. Funding will be used to support the continued ramping up of production of Solar Foods’ single-cell protein, Solein.

Solar Foods produces Solein using carbon dioxide and electricity. It is a microbial protein-rich powder containing all essential amino acids, produced by feeding microbes with gases including carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen, together with small amounts of nutrients.

The bioprocess resembles winemaking, with carbon dioxide and hydrogen replacing sugar as the source of carbon and energy.

Since Agronomics’ first investment in Solar Foods, the company has increased its productivity of Solein by over ten times, achieved regulatory approval for Solein in Singapore and submitted a dossier to the European Food Safety Authority for approval in the EU.

Agronomics is a venture capital firm that focuses on cellular agriculture, with a portfolio of over 20 holdings at the pre-seed to Series C stage. It seeks to secure minority stakes in companies owning technologies that offer new ways of producing food and materials with a focus on products historically derived from animals.