Copenhagen, 29 June- Unibio, the sustainable protein company, today announced the successful completion of a US$15m bridge round financing, predominantly from existing shareholders. The bridge round, arranged by West Hill Capital, was increased due to significant investor demand and was 2.2x oversubscribed. The valuation of Unibio is now above US$300m. The capital raised will be used for general corporate purposes and to support the company’s future development plans.

Unibio has also successfully closed the previously announced partnership agreement with Stafilies in respect of Protelux, the first industrial-scale plant producing Uniprotein®. As part of the transaction, the intellectual property and experience gained by Protelux in constructing and operating the world’s first industrial-scale U-Loop® fermenter will be shared with Unibio and can be leveraged when designing and building similar facilities around the world. Following the partnership, Stafilies is now a significant shareholder in Unibio.

David Henstrom, the new Chief Executive Officer, who joined Unibio from Cargill has also now taken up his role to grow Unibio.

Jan Boeg Hansen, Chairman, said:

“It has been an extremely busy and successful year for Unibio, with the commencement of industrial production and the completion of the capital raising. The confidence placed in us by our shareholders is testimony to the strong story that Unibio has to tell and now that David has joined us we are working hard to continue the development of Unibio at a high pace.”

Diets with Uniprotein® increase productivity & profits.

Unibio, a leading sustainable protein company, is pleased to announce that an initial trial of its single-cell protein, Uniprotein®, on whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) has been conducted and delivered up to 75% improved survival rate compared to a control group fed with fishmeal.

In shrimp production, mortality, which can be as high as 80%, is a major challenge and an economical and ethical problem for the producer.  Accordingly, Unibio is undertaking a series of trials depicting an improving survival rate, substituting high-quality protein fishmeal with its own sustainable protein, Uniprotein®.

Initial tests, conducted by the Instituto de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentarias in Spain as part of the Valuewaste EU project, confirmed that substituting fishmeal with Uniprotein® increased survival rates. With a 100% inclusion of fishmeal the survival rate was 37% and by substituting all fishmeal with Uniprotein® the survival rate increased to 67% – an improvement of 75%.  Additionally, Uniprotein® performs as well as fishmeal on feed conversion ratio. The results indicate that the shrimp production industry could improve productivity and profits by replacing fishmeal with Uniprotein®.

Commenting on the trial, David Henstrom, CEO of Unibio said: “We are delighted with the positive results of this trial, which confirmed the viability of Uniprotein® as a replacement for fishmeal in whiteleg shrimp. Importantly, it has shown that Uniprotein® can increase the survival rate of shrimp by about 75%, which could potentially transform the shrimp industry by improving sales and increasing profits”.

Improved Immune Response

Based on results from the initial tests, a challenge trial with Vibrio harveyi was conducted to induce a stressor to the shrimp and investigate if Uniprotein® affected the immune response during the challenge. Results from this trial showed that Uniprotein® supplemented feeds – with 100% replacement of fishmeal – decreased the mortality from 16% to 2%. Such results indicate that Uniprotein® triggers an interesting immune response that needs further investigation.

Feeding Trial & Conclusion

Unibio’s initial nutritional trial, which followed the lifecycle of a shrimp and was conducted over a five-month period, comprised 24 200L tanks of water connected to a RAS system each with 100 post-larvae shrimp and 7 different diets with various percentages of Uniprotein® replacing fishmeal.

Profound Threat to Natural Habitats Unless Adoption of Alternative Protein Accelerates

‍Copenhagen, 24 February 2022 – Unibio, the sustainable protein company, today released new research, which shows that 31 million hectares of new farmland, equivalent to all the arable land in Germany and France combined[1], would need to be planted with soy alone by 2050 to deliver the additional protein the world will need to feed itself.

‍COP26 – Stop deforestation

‍However, global leaders at the recent COP26 Climate Summit recognised the critical impact of deforestation on climate change, and one of the key commitments reached at the Summit was to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

‍Possible to stop deforestation

‍Unibio has developed a sustainable protein derived from natural microbial fermentation, which it is now producing at an industrial scale, the first company in the world to do so. With the production method it is possible to produce unlimited amounts of protein to feed the world’s growing population and prevent the deforestation.

‍Heavily growing population – a new solution is needed

David Henstrom, Chief Executive Officer, Unibio said: “With the global population forecast to reach almost 10 billion people by 2050, an increase of 25% of today’s population, more food will be needed than has ever been produced before in the history of the world combined to feed them. This food has to come from somewhere.

“In recent years, much of the expansion of production has come from the ‘Brazilian savannah’, the Cerrado, where one hectare of virgin Cerrado stores around 137 tons of CO2 equivalent. Protecting 31 million hectares of Cerrado would save 4,148 million tons of CO2 from being emitted – or 134 million tons/year, roughly twice Denmark’s total annual emissions. Similarly, the production of fishmeal can put undue stress on marine ecosystems with the production of just one ton of fishmeal requiring the capture and processing of around 135,000 fish[2]. Peru alone processes over 4-7 million tonnes of fish per year, equivalent to between 160 and 280 billion anchoveta.”

‍Let’s join forces

David Henstrom added: “We urge all global leaders to join forces in accelerating the adoption of alternative proteins, such as Unibio’s groundbreaking Uniprotein®, to help reduce the pressures of deforestation and prevent land-use change. The world is facing an unprecedented environmental stress with the threat of increased deforestation, habitat and biodiversity loss, and the accelerating damage to our ecosystems. This is why the adoption of alternative sources of protein, in order to feed the ever-growing population, is of paramount importance.”

Unibio’s innovative, continuous-flow, natural, microbial fermentation process uses its proprietary U-Loop® technology to produce Uniprotein®. Uniprotein® is a high-quality alternative protein, which can replace products such as fish meal and concentrated soya in feed for fish and other animals, such as pigs. Unibio’s technology enables production of more sustainable protein in very large and scalable volumes to help meet the world’s growing protein needs.

Uniprotein® is a close substitute to high-quality fishmeal (LT Fishmeal), but it can also substitute highly concentrated soy product, both being increasingly scarce resources. In addition, the product has been shown to be safe to use in piglet feed compound as a starter feed, in partial supplement of potato protein. Unibio’s technology has been proven at industrial scale and has been commercially shipped, for example to the Danish compound feed company, Danish Agro – who are using Uniprotein® as a fixed part of its feed mixes.

‍Ends[1] Source – https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/group-stats/Group-of-7-countries-(G7)/Agriculture/Arable-land/Hectares

[2] Fish = Peruvian anchoveta – source: Aquareg

Uniprotein® Plant Enters Front-end Engineering Design Stage –

Final Stage Before Construction.

Unibio, the leading sustainable protein company, is pleased to announce that its strategic licensing partner, the Doha-based industrial biotech investor Gulf Biotech, has reached the final stage before the construction of the first single-cell protein (‘SCP’) plant in Qatar by entering the Front-end Engineering Design Stage (‘FEED’). Qatar is a country that is rich in natural gas resources but has little or no farmland or the ability to produce protein for its population or the surrounding region. By using our technology to produce protein locally, it helps to utilize their abundant resources, to directly enhance food security.

The plant will use Unibio’s U-Loop® technology, where methane is converted through continuous fermentation to produce Uniprotein®.  The Uniprotein® produced in the plant will be used as a protein supplement in feed for fish and animals to supplement the deficit due to shortages of fish meal or soy.   The production of Uniprotein® is highly resource-efficient and sustainable compared with the production of traditional protein. Relative to soy production, Uniprotein® uses no arable land and significantly less water. Initial production is estimated to be 9,000 tonnes of protein per year.

Gulf Biotech, represented by His Excellency Hitmi Al-Hitmi, has shown its commitment to using innovative technology and Qatar’s natural resources to tackle the highly pressing challenge of producing sustainable food for the world’s rapidly growing population. Gulf Biotech has completed their feasibility study on the viability of the plant.  The FEED for the development of the plant is due to be completed by early 2023.

David Henstrom, CEO of Unibio commented:

“We are absolutely delighted with the progress made together with Gulf Biotech in reaching the FEED stage at what will be Qatar’s first single cell protein (‘SCP’) plant.  We need innovators and visionaries if we are to provide food security for the world’s growing population in a sustainable way, especially at a time when the global cost of food continues to rise. Qatar’s abundance of methane makes it an ideal region to use our technology.  I am confident that together with our partners, we will play a pivotal role in being part of the solution in Qatar and beyond and look forward to updating our investors on this FEED result in due course.”

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His Excellency Hitmi Al-Hitmi, Founder of Gulf Biotech, said:

“Through the planning and the feasibility study we have had a professional and constructive dialogue with Unibio to develop the project and adapt the plant to Qatar conditions. We look forward to finalizing the FEED phase and starting the construction of the first sustainable protein plant in Qatar. We see enormous potential for the future of sustainable development of our business and achieving food security for the country by providing a sustainable and economically viable source for animal feed products.”  

Unibio, the leading sustainable protein company has won the ‘Kalundborg Business Council’s “Green 2023 Environment and Climate award’.

The award was given to Unibio because of the significant positive impact the Company’s product will have on world food production while substantially reducing global water consumption compared to the cultivation of soybeans.

Unibio has developed a fermentation technology – the U-Loop® fermenter – to produce single-cell protein with methane as feedstock. The protein – Uniprotein® – is a high-quality protein comparable to fishmeal and soy. The U-Loop® replicates a process happening every day in nature and the production of Uniprotein® requires no arable land, has a very low water usage, and has no negative impact on the Earth’s ecosystem. The protein is currently approved as feed in the EU and is under development for human consumption.

CEO of Unibio David Henstrom commented: “On behalf of the entire Unibio team I would like to thank the Kalundborg Business Council for this award and for recognising the contribution Unibio is making in feeding the world in a more sustainable way.  We are very proud of the work that Unibio is doing to enable our customers to secure sustainable protein for the future, and we are delighted that our work has been recognized by the local business community in this way.”

The Green 2023 Environment and Climate Award was awarded by the chairman of Kalundborg Forsyning’s board of directors, Karl-Åge Hornshøj Poulsen at Kalundborg Business Council’s yearly award show. Each year, the award is given to a company located in the Kalundborg Municipality of Denmark that is leading the way in countering climate change and providing green alternative products for the future.

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Photo courtesy of  TV-Kalundborg.

Unibio, the leading sustainable protein company committed to feeding the world’s growing population, is pleased to announce that it has become a member of the Global Feed LCA Institute (“GFLI”).

GFLI is an independent animal nutrition and food industry institute with the purpose of developing a publicly available Animal Nutrition Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) database to support meaningful environmental assessment of animal nutrition products and stimulate continuous improvement of the environmental performance in the animal nutrition and food industry.

The membership supports GFLI’s commitment to monitor and improve the environmental performance of the animal nutrition industry and aligns with Unibio’s ethos – to feed the world’s growing population in a sustainable way.

Unibio’s proprietary technology – the U-Loop® uses fermentation to produce Uniprotein®. The technology mimics a process that occurs in nature every day and uses methane (e.g. natural gas or biogas) as feedstock. The production of Uniprotein® is efficient, uses little or no water and is unaffected by weather conditions that can impact the production of more traditional protein sources.

Uniprotein® is approved for feed in the European Union, it is free from pesticides, fully traceable, and non-GMO. It has been launched commercially and is attracting significant global interest from feed compound companies and animal and fish farmers.

CEO of Unibio, David Henstrom commented:

“Unibio has long been seen as a leader in the sustainable and alternative protein space. Our GFLI membership will facilitate strong and long-term relationships with those in the animal nutrition and food industry as all parties collaborate to provide credible enhancements to the world’s protein insecurity in the most sustainable manner.”

Project Manager Laura Nobel from GFLI commented:

“The GFLI is delighted to welcome Unibio, one of the first biotechnological companies to join our framework of frontrunners. The Global Feed LCA Institute represents nearly 30 members. Sustainability and finding solutions to limiting the carbon footprint of feed and food production on our planet is of paramount importance. The Institute and its database allow for pre-competitive science-based discussions and engagement with other stakeholders in the feed and food chain. By supporting the GFLI, members contribute to the resilience of the entire supply chain through an acknowledged methodology and high-quality database with an increasing number of datasets of feed ingredients.”

GFLI Membership brochure

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