3 November 2022
ROSLIN TECH CLOSES SERIES A FUNDING ROUND
Roslin Tech, an Edinburgh-based food & ag tech company, is pleased to announce the closing of its series A capital raise led by Novo Holdings, a leading international life sciences investor.
This £11 million funding round will fuel the company’s next wave of growth in its mission to become the leading provider of animal cell lines to the emerging cultivated meat sector.
Cultivated meat is meat grown directly from animal cells without the need to raise animals. Cultivated meat offers the promise to improve animal welfare, lower antibiotics use, and reduce the environmental footprint of meat production. The cultivated meat sector is rapidly growing with over 100 companies active today and with billions of dollars of investment coming in.
To deliver on the promise, cultivated meat needs to deliver a great sensory experience and production cost needs to come down. High quality cell lines are needed to make cultivated meat safe, affordable, and nutritious.
Roslin Tech has developed pluripotent animal stem cells with the capacity to self-renew indefinitely and differentiate into desired end-tissues for meat. Roslin Tech is making these cells available to cultivated meat producers globally. Currently, the company has customers in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The new funding will allow Roslin Tech to expand its cell line portfolio and to further develop the protocols for scale up of its cells into cost competitive cell biomass for meat production. It will do so jointly with its customers, development collaborators, and the University of Edinburgh with which Roslin Tech has a privileged relationship. It will also invest in its insect venture which focuses on breeding better insects for the emerging insect protein sector, a promising regenerative agricultural technique.
Novo Holdings is joined by Kairos Capital Group, Nutreco, Future Planet Capital, Esco Lifesciences, Alchimia, and private investors. This adds to funding received in 2021-2022 from Scottish Enterprise and existing shareholders including the University of Edinburgh’s venture capital fund, Old College Capital, and Future Planet Capital’s BIF Opportunities LP.
“We are excited to welcome Novo Holdings and other investors on our journey to improve the food system. With the investment and strategic support, we can accelerate the development of better cells for the sector and focus on making our customers successful.”
Ernst van Orsouw, CEO of Roslin Tech
“We've been impressed with Roslin Technologies’ team and innovative technologies, which have the potential to materially improve the production of novel, sustainable proteins. We are excited to invest alongside a strong syndicate of investors whose joint vision for Roslin Technologies and complementary capabilities will be a great asset to the company in its continued development.”
Nis Bak, Principal Novo Holdings and new board member
“The combination of innovative technology, robust business model and expert scientific team makes Roslin Tech a uniquely qualified investment from our newly launched Kairos FoodTech Fund. We look forward to working with the Roslin Tech Board and leadership team to further expand its presence, particularly in Asia.”
Anthony Siau, founder of Kairos Capital Group and new board member
“We are delighted to welcome Novo Holdings as partner and look forward to jointly supporting Roslin Technologies. The scale of this new investment and the calibre of its source is a testament to the expertise and experience of the Roslin Technologies team and a great indicator of likely future success.”
Catherine Martin, Vice Principal of Corporate Services at the University of Edinburgh
-- Notes to Editors --
About Roslin Technologies Limited
Based in Edinburgh, Roslin Tech is an ambitious food and ag tech company focused on disruptive biotechnologies.The company’s core capabilities lie in developing and commercialising animal stem cells for the nascent global cultivated meat industry. Roslin Tech was founded in 2017 as a venture between two investment firms and the University of Edinburgh from which it has certain rights to commercialise intellectual property from the University’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and the Roslin Institute, a global leader in animal science. www.roslintech.com and @roslintech.
About Novo Holdings A/S
Novo Holdings A/S is a private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It is the holding company of the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, and is responsible formanaging the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s assets. Novo Holdings is recognised as a leading international life scienceinvestor, with a focus on creating long-term value. As a life science investor, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in growth and well-established companies. Novo Holdings also manages a broad portfolio of diversified financial assets.
About Novo Nordisk Foundation
Established in Denmark in 1924, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropicobjectives. The vision of the Foundation is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet. The Foundation’s mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolicand infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society.
About Kairos Capital Group
Kairos Capital Group is a Singapore-based multi-family private equity and venture capital investment firm with a comprehensive suite of financial solutions for high-net-worth individuals, families and institutions. As an integrated platform that encompasses investment discipline, advisory expertise and a vast network across Asia and beyond, Kairos delivers bespoke wealth preservation and accumulation solutions.
About Nutreco
With over 100 years of experience, Nutreco is a global leader in livestock feed through its Trouw Nutrition business line, and in aquaculture through our Skretting business line. Nutreco’s NuFrontiers and NutEx teams work to identify, develop, and invest in next-generation breakthrough innovations throughout the value chain. The company is a subsidiary of SHV N.V., a family-owned multinational with net sales of €20 billion in 2021.
About Future Planet Capital
Future Planet Capital (FPC) is an impact-led, global venture capital firm that invests in high growth potential companies from the world's top research centres. FPC provides venture and growth funding to entrepreneurs and businesses profitably solving the world's greatest challenges in climate change, education, health, sustainable growth & security.
About Esco Lifesciences Group
Esco Lifesciences is a world-leading life science company with a diversified portfolio and sales in over 100 countries. As a manufacturer of laboratory and biopharma equipment, and IVF medical devices, Esco offers tailored solutions that fit the needs of labs in various industries.
About Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Enterprise is Scotland’s national economic development agency and a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It supports businesses to innovate and scale to transform the Scottish economy by focusing on new market opportunities through targeted investment, innovation and internationalisation. Follow Scottish Enterprise on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Old College Capital
Old College Capital (OCC) is the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund. It aims to support the University’s research, staff and students by investing in high-growth, early-stage businesses associated with the University. The fund aims to achieve commercial returns and follows a co-investment model, partnering with experienced private sector investors.
About Alchimia
Alchimia is an investment company primarily operating in the venture capital sector. Alchimia invests and co-invests in high growth potential opportunities offering capital, as well as dedicated strategic and operational resources. Alchimia partners with stellar entrepreneurs to realize their unique intuitions and reach their goals, inspired by values.
Further information
Karen Galloway, Marketing Roslin Technologies Ltd, +44 7541 804929, marketing@roslintech.com
Christian Mostrup, Public Relations Novo Holdings, +45 3067 4805, cims@novo.dk
