LONDON: Onego Bio Ltd, an Agronomics company, has secured EUR 14 million in new funding from the European Innovation Council Accelerator Program and an additional Series A investor.

In April, Onego announced it closed EUR 37 million in its series A round which, including this new capital, brings Onego’s total funding to date to EUR 65 million.

Agronomics has invested EUR 8.4 million into Onego since inception which, subject to audit, is currently carried at GBP 11.1 million (EUR 12.9 million) and will not change as a result of this fundraise.

This position accounts for approximately 6.7% of Agronomics’ last published Net Asset Value (31/03/2024), including post-balance sheet adjustments. Agronomics has an equity ownership of 16.1% on a fully diluted basis.

Manufactured as an industrial food ingredient, Onego’s Bioalbumen® is a bio-identical egg protein with full functionality, perfect protein quality and a neutral taste.

Bioalbumen® offers a stable supply of egg protein while having the potential to alleviate the environmental burden by ~90 %.

As a US-Finnish company, Onego is moving at full speed to commercialise in North America, where the regulatory landscape allows a faster market entry.

The company is on track to submit a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notice to the FDA this year, with the hope of receiving a “no questions” letter from the FDA in 2025.

The newly gained EIC funding will fuel the company’s go-to-market plan both in the US and in the EU, including securing regulatory approval from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Maija Itkonen, CEO & co-founder of Onego Bio said: “The new funding and immense support from our investors demonstrates their confidence in our vision and the potential of innovations like Bioalbumen® to build a more sustainable system.

It also shows that the EU recognizes precision fermentation as a solution to address sustainability issues and enhance food security in Europe and worldwide.

However, to remain competitive and fully capture the potential of exceptional European research and innovation, the regulatory approval process must be accelerated, as the EU currently lags behind other regions in this area.”

Onego Bio was selected for EIC funding from a highly competitive pool of 969 applicants, of which 347 companies were interviewed by juries of experienced investors and entrepreneurs, with only the top 68 receiving funding.

EIC Accelerator selects startups or SMEs with a high-impact product, service, or business model that demonstrates the potential to scale up, create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and even worldwide.

In the 2024 work program, EIC has identified precision fermentation as an area where breakthrough technologies or game-changing innovations can have a major impact.

Precision fermentation can improve the sustainability, efficiency, and resilience of European food supply chains by decoupling food production from the soil and minimizing its environmental impact.