Copenhagen, Denmark, December 16th, 2024 - With the global population expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, the need for sustainable, scalable, and efficient protein solutions has never been more urgent. With a focus on full-scale commercialisation, Unibio has launched a refreshed visual identity.  This identity embodies a renewed mission to reshape the future and lead the global shift toward affordable, planet-friendly, and efficient protein production. The ability to deliver enhanced food security without compromising the planet’s resources is a powerful commitment that is enshrined in this launch.

David Henstrom, CEO of Unibio, stated, “By communicating our mission more powerfully, we ensure that Unibio stands out as a leader in sustainable innovation through both technology and product development."

Unibio’s cutting-edge fermentation technology harnesses nature’s alchemy to brew resilient, planet-friendly proteins in a sustainable way, delivering on its vision to transform protein production on a global scale.

The renewed mission and branding mirror a commitment to building a diverse, inclusive working culture that fosters creativity and drives sustainability. A business that operates with purpose, people, and planet in mind and encompasses strong values of collaboration to unlock value, execution with urgency, and empowering ownership.

The development of Unibio’s mission, vision, values, and brand identity has been carried out in close collaboration with Aaron Leaman and the Brighter Future team.  Henstrom commented, “His ability to refine and sharpen our message and communicate our story has been invaluable.”

• The first ever shipment of Uniprotein® to a European based customer has been made to Danish Agro, the international agribusiness group
• Uniprotein® is a hiqh-quality, sustainable protein that is made from the microbial fermentation of natural gases, including biogas
• Danish Agro announces that Uniprotein® has proved to be very suitable for piglet feed and will be included in Danish Agro’s feed mixtures as a supplement to protein from potato flour and fishmeal from 15 October 2021

Copenhagen,  6th October 2021 – Unibio, the sustainable protein company, today announced that an initial shipment of 24 tonnes of its groundbreaking Uniprotein® product has been made to Danish Agro, the international agribusiness group, its first commercial customer in Europe. Unibio will deliver Uniprotein® to Danish Agro at an ongoing basis to be a part of Danish Agro’s feed mixtures.

Unibio has developed an innovative continuous-flow microbial fermentation process that uses its proprietary U-Loop® technology and natural gases, including biogas, as the primary feedstock. Uniprotein® is differentiated through its high quality, allowing it to replace products such as fish meal, protein from potato flour, and concentrated soy in feed for fish and animals, such as pigs. The majority of fishmeal is unsustainably sourced, threatens biodiversity and ocean ecosystems. Similarly, global demand for soya threatens further rainforest deforestation and wider habitat destruction. Unibio’s technology enables production of more sustainable protein in very large and scalable volumes to help meet the world’s growing protein needs.

‍David Henstrom, Chief Executive Officer said: “The shipment of our first commercial order within Europe is an important milestone for Unibio. We have put a lot of hard work into the development of our U-Loop® fermentation technology over the last decade and our Uniprotein® product has now been tested by international compound feed companies with a resoundingly positive response. This is the first time that any single-cell protein has been used as a key ingredient in Danish Agro’s pig feed. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Danish Agro and increasing our industrial production of sustainable protein to meet the increasing global demand we see.”

‍Arne Ringsing, Product Manager, Swine, Danish Agro said: “We have been actively looking for a supplement to the conventional protein used in animal feed. We have tested Uniprotein® and it has been shown to be very suitable for piglet feed and will be included in the feed mixtures as a supplement to protein from potato flour and fishmeal from 15 October. We are happy to now be able to use Uniprotein® because it will benefit both the farmers’ pig herds and the environment. There is an ever-growing demand for sustainable protein and Uniprotein® can play an important part in meeting that need.”

London/Copenhagen 28 March 2023: Unibio International PLC, the leading sustainable protein company, is pleased to announce that the Saudi Industrial Investment Group (“SIIG”) has signed an agreement to invest approximately US$70 million (GBP 59 million) in Unibio. The proceeds will be deployed to enable Unibio’s vision of feeding the world’s growing population in a sustainable way. Unibio will use the funds to roll-out new global production capacity, grow operating capabilities, and accelerate innovation and commercialisation.

Improve the world’s food security

Through industrial protein production based on Unibio’s unique fermentation technology – the U-Loop® technology – it is possible to improve food security and feed the world’s growing population in a sustainable way without use of arable land and with low water usage. The fermentation 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, stable, and independent of weather deviations that impact the production of traditional protein sources.

Uniprotein® is approved for feed in the European Union and global registrations are in progress. The protein provides nutrition on par with or better than other high-quality proteinsx, such as fishmeal, and has been tested successfully in various aqua and animal species. Uniprotein® is free from pesticides, fully traceable, and non-GMO. It has been launched commercially and Uniprotein® is attracting significant global interest from feed compound companies and animal and fish farmers. The production of Unibio’s protein for direct human consumption is under development.

David Henstrom, CEO of Unibio commented:

“We are delighted to welcome SIIG as a significant investor in Unibio. Their investment will enable us to play a pivotal role in meeting our customers’ need for sustainable protein. Unibio’s technology will improve food security and speed up the process of feeding the world in a sustainable way. We are pleased that SIIG shares our ambition of providing food security for the world’s growing population and helping stop hunger (#SDG2) and we look forward to working together to make it happen.”

Mr. Abdulrahman S. Alismail, CEO of the Saudi Industrial Investment Group, added:

“We are extremely pleased to invest in Unibio and see it as strongly aligned with SIIG’s new strategy to diversify its investments, enter new sectors focused on sustainability and new technologies, and develop partnerships with international companies. Unibio’s focus aligns with Saudi Arabia’s commitment to increasing domestic protein production and supporting food security through innovation and technology. We are investing in Unibio for the long-term and believe that by doing so we will contribute to a more diverse and sustainable economy.”

The investment in Unibio will be paid in two tranches: the first tranche of approximately US$25 million (GBP 21 million) is paid now with the second subject to applicable Foreign Direct Investment approvals.  BofA Securities acted as placement agent to Unibio in connection with the transaction.

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