Tyneside biotech start up 3D Bio Tissues is embarking on a US tour to drum up investor appetite on the back of advances in its lab grown meat products.
The Newcastle University spin-out, which is owned by London Stock Exchange-listed BSF Enterprise, says it will begin a roadshow at the end of the month, taking in the Future Food Tech Summit in New York - a meeting of scientists, manufacturers and food brands operating in the 'alternative protein' market. Having appointed a Boston-based PR and investor relations team to manage the process, the firm said it wants to improve its profile and increase liquidity in its shares.
The move follows BSF's listing on the over-the-counter OTCQB market - a decentralised market where companies, typically early stage firms, not listed on major exchanges are traded directly by a network of dealers. BSF describes it as one of the world's largest investment markets and has pledged to regularly engage with US investors.
Read more: Mouth cancer treatment specialist LightOx nets £1.1m grant to further innovative drug
Che Connon, managing director of BSF Enterprise and CEO at 3D Bio Tissues, said "We intend to leverage our US listing to the very best of our abilities in order to improve our international profile, increase liquidity in our shares and maximise value for all of our shareholders. This process begins with our upcoming US investor roadshow, and we look forward to expanding and developing relationships with the US investment community in the months and years ahead."
3D Bio Tissue's trip stateside follows its announcement that it created two full-scale fillets of cultivated pork, as well as a cultivated pork strip, in its lab. The success, the firm said, was proof of its intellectual property which includes its patented, serum-free and animal-free cell booster City-Mix, which provides a different method to that used by many other meat alternative producers.
Testing of the products showed it had a similar appearance to meat and could be handled and cooked in the same way, producing the same smell and searing that consumers would expect. Mr Connon said: "We have gained a huge amount of valuable knowledge from testing our products with a trained chef and we were reassured to observe that our cultivated meat is able to be handled and cooked in the same way as traditional meat products. Further, data collected from the study participants indicated comparable meat qualities to traditional pork meat, which was very pleasing and highly validating of our work. This gives us further confidence as we continue our conversations with potential customers to licence out the technologies demonstrated as well as building on the agreements already secured."
Go HERE to sign up for North East business newsletters and get all the latest news direct to your inbox
READ NEXT:
Tyneside tech firm Boxmodel Digital Media in liquidation with debts of more than £700,000
Kromek seals $1.5m deal for new product developed for civil nuclear market
Geothermal energy could create jobs in deprived areas, MP says
Former head of Spaceport Cornwall lands new role with space data firm
- Read more North East business news here
