PRESS RELEASE
Unibio signs its first commercial licence agreement
After years of development of the U-Loop technology, Unibio is ready to take a giant step forward. Unibio has signed its first licence agreement with a commercial client. A full-size commercial plant having multiple U-Loop fermentors is planned for construction and commissioning in 2017. The aim of the agreement is to expand this capacity in the following years.
Unibio has received an attractive upfront payment and is further incentivized by an attractive revenue stream in the years to come following successful commissioning of the plant. A revenue stream expectedly counted in millions of dollars over the next ten years.
The aim is to supply the European and Russian markets with Unibio’s premium protein product UniProtein®. The megatrends are very clear. The world needs sustainable solutions to the food challenge of the century. How can we feed a growing world population when agricultural land per capital is decreasing? And how can we do it in a sustainable way without destroying the planet?
Part of the solution lies with Unibio. Converting methane to food, using a cheap and abundant resource as natural gas, is key to solving this challenge – basically what Unibio does is to integrate the energy and food systems to address this challenge.
Henrik Busch-Larsen, the CEO of Unibio, says:
“We recently had a ground-breaking ceremony in Kalundborg, Denmark, where we are constructing a demonstration and production plant, and we are of course very excited to announce the construction of a large commercial plant already”.
Unibio inaugurated its pilot plant located at the Chemical Engineering Department of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in October last year, where the Danish Minister of Energy, Climate and Utilities, Lars Chr. Lilleholt, was a key-note speaker. Shortly after, the company won the Ernst & Young competition Entrepreneur of the Year within the Life Sciences category. The new partner, participating in the event, sees the collaboration with DTU as a very strong asset. In general Denmark holds great expertise within fermentation technology, and DTU works in close cooperation with large Danish companies within the fermentation industry, such as e.g. Novozymes and Novo Nordisk.
Henrik Busch-Larsen, the CEO of Unibio, continues:
“We see the collaboration with this new partner as a natural step forward in the development of the company and technology and thus welcome our new partner into the Unibio family. We look forward to the construction of the plant and to bringing our premium protein product UniProtein® to the market. The coming months are going to be very exciting for the company”.
About Unibio
Unibio is the developer of an innovative Single Cell Protein production technology called the U-Loop technology that converts natural gas into a highly concentrated protein (UniProtein®) for sustainable food production targeting the animal compound feed markets.
The process used occurs in nature every day, and as such Unibio has simply used a natural process in an industrial setting. The protein product is approved in the EU for all fish and animals, and it has shown very good results when utilized in feed mixes especially for fish, pig and chicken feed.
Unibio has recently raised capital to accelerate commercialization of its proprietary U-Loop technology, and it has received a grant from Innovation Fund Denmark. Unibio has a strong collaboration with COWI and several technology partners with key expertise within the production and development of fermentation reactors.
Unibio has support from feed producers who have indicated their interest in purchasing UniProtein®. The company’s R&D platform is supported by three leading research universities, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the University of Southern Denmark and Aarhus University. Unibio has recently built a new pilot plant, based upon the newest version of the U-Loop technology, in cooperation with DTU. The pilot plant is located in Lyngby, Denmark.
Unibio is building a commercial-size plant in Kalundborg, Denmark, which will be commissioned by end-2016. The entire production from the plant has been sold in advance.
Unibio’s intention is to develop a global brand for a portfolio of premium methane-based protein products and control quality and production by investing in manufacturing facilities worldwide alongside joint venture partners.
