Agronomics commits investment to cultured seafood firm Shiok Meats

Agronomics announced on Tuesday that it has completed a subscription of $0.5m in the form of a convertible loan note in Shiok Meats - a Singapore based company developing cultured seafood products, focusing on shrimp.

The AIM-traded firm said that on conversion, the subscription was expected to give Agronomics an approximate interest of 2.3% in Shiok Meats.

It would be paid using cash from the company's own resources, and would convert into ordinary shares in Shiok Meats on completion of a Series A funding round of $10m by the company.

Shiok Meats was founded by Dr Sandhya Sriram and Dr Ka Yi Ling in 2018, both of whom are stem cell biologists with nearly 20 years of combined experience in the field, the Agronomics board said.

Shiok Meats acquired early stage funding from Entrepreneur First and US-based seed accelerator Y Combinator.

Agronomics said Shiok Meats was an early stage, pre-revenue company with current costs of approximately $46,000 per month and total assets as at 3 October of around $4.7m, with no material liabilities.

“Shiok Meats is a huge addition to Agronomics' portfolio, as the only company to be working on developing cultured shrimp products,” said Agronomics chairman Richard Reed.

“Agronomics is highly supportive of Shiok Meat's work that will support sustainable sourcing of fish protein to meet the global demand.”

Dr Sandhya Sriram, co-founder and chief executive officer of Shiok Meats, said it was “great” to have the support and investment from Agronomics.

“This will further our research and development and accelerate our entry to market in the next couple of years.”

As at 1035 GMT, shares in Agronomics were down 4.35% at 5.5p.