Agronomics has invested $10 million in its portfolio company Liberation Labs as part of a wider $12.5 million funding round.
The round saw participation from existing investor Siddhi Capital. The investment, structured as a Secured Convertible Promissory Note (SCPN), aims to support the ongoing construction of Liberation Labs' facility in Richmond, Indiana, in preparation for its Series A round.
Liberation Labs was formed in 2022 to address the growing fermentation capacity gap in cellular agriculture by providing the industry with the infrastructure to commercialise novel protein manufacturing at the scale and cost structure required by the market.
Through the design, build and operation of Bio3, its purpose-built biomanufacturing platform, Liberation Labs aims to address the critical bottleneck which fermentation companies face. The company broke ground on its first facility in June 2023, which, when complete, will have 600k litres of fermentation capacity. Currently, the project is around halfway through its build programme and, subject to completion of the Qualified Financing, is expected to be commissioned in Q1 2025.
The Richmond, Indiana, US, site – which has the potential to be expanded by an additional 4 million litres of capacity – was selected considering several key metrics such as access to sugar inputs, utility rates, cost and availability of labour, regulatory environment and availability of government incentives.
Mark Warner, CEO and co-founder of Liberation Labs, said: "The new funding from Agronomics and Siddhi Capital comes as we continue to make significant progress in building out our operations team and advancing facility construction – including the installation of key equipment like fermenters and spray dryers. Each day we're closer to our goal of unlocking the potential of domestic manufacturing of novel proteins for both food and industrial use. We greatly appreciate the continued support of our major funding partners."
Jim Mellon, executive chairman of Agronomics, added: "Liberation Labs continues to deliver on the project milestones of its launch facility in Indiana. We have huge confidence in the team's ability to execute and believe that Liberation Labs will become the first company in Agronomics' portfolio to be cash generative."
The latest investment comes after Liberation Labs' announcement in January this year, which announced its new partnership with Ivy Tech Community College. Under the partnership, Liberation Labs and Ivy Tech will develop a new biomanufacturing workforce training programme, designed specifically to equip future employees of the company with the required skills to work in precision fermentation.
