Davis, California
October 28, 2008
Arcadia Biosciences, Inc.,
an agricultural biotechnology company focused on developing
technologies and products that benefit the environment and human
health, said today that it has raised $15 million in financing
from its current investors. The transaction was led by Exeter
Life Sciences, with full participation of other key shareholders
including CMEA Ventures, BASF Venture Capital America Inc., and
Saints Capital.
The company will use proceeds from the financing to fund and
complete the launch of Arcadia's GLA Safflower Oil -- the
company's first commercial product -- and to accelerate
development of new technologies with enhanced agricultural
traits.
"In the current volatile capital market environment, this
support from all of our major investors demonstrates the
confidence they have in Arcadia's core business and management
team. This financing gives us even more flexibility to ramp up
research and operations to further expand our portfolio of
high-value agricultural traits, generate increased commercial
revenue, and implement plans to capture more value by
participating further down the commercial value chain," said
Eric Rey, president and chief executive officer of Arcadia.
"Exeter Life Sciences, Inc. was the first investor in Arcadia
and is proud to continue to support Arcadia's valuable work
advancing agricultural technologies that truly address major
issues that need to be overcome in order to meet the food and
health demands of an ever-growing worldwide population," said
Jonathan Thatcher, president of Exeter Life Sciences.
Keith Gillard, principal, BASF Venture Capital America Inc.,
added, "BASF Venture Capital is pleased to support Arcadia's
promising and exciting development. Green biotechnology is one
of BASF's five Growth Clusters, and we see strong opportunities
for this technology."
Arcadia is pioneering the development of agricultural products
that will create significant value for farmers while also
improving the environment and enhancing human health. These
include Nitrogen Use Efficient (NUE), Water Use Efficient, and
Salt Tolerant plants, such as canola, corn, wheat, rice, cotton,
sugar beets, sugarcane, and turf grass. The company has also
developed safflower plants with a high level of gamma linolenic
acid (GLA), an Omega-6 fatty acid that can deliver multiple
health benefits, and expects to begin marketing GLA Safflower
Oil with its commercial partner, Bioriginal Food and Science
Corporation, in late 2008.
"Based on the data from our extensive field trials, we believe
our agricultural trait technologies can produce crops with
yields comparable to those of conventional crops, but with the
benefits of using less nitrogen and fresh water. This not only
increases on-farm profitability, but also provides significant
environmental benefits as it reduces the amount of nitrogen
released into the environment and the amount of fresh water used
for irrigation," Rey noted. "The key objectives of our program
going forward are to expand our technology portfolio and build a
platform that combines these important agricultural traits with
opportunities to capture more value downstream."
Arcadia has achieved several key business milestones in the
agricultural and human health areas. These include research and
commercial agreements with Monsanto, DuPont, ScottsMiracle-Gro,
SESVanderHave, Mahyco Seed Company, and several other
organizations for its NUE and Salt Tolerance technologies in
multiple crops. In addition, the company has entered into a
strategic partnership with Bioriginal Food and Science Corp. to
market its GLA Safflower Oil.
"This has been a year of many accomplishments for Arcadia and we
continue to move quickly toward our next set of milestones in
our commercialization and product development strategies. Given
the increasing focus on the intersection of agriculture, food
security, and the environment, we believe that our technologies
will capitalize on significant market opportunities," Rey added.
Based in Davis, Calif., with additional facilities in
Seattle, Wash., and Phoenix, Ariz., Arcadia Biosciences is an
agricultural biotechnology company focused on the development of
agricultural products that improve the environment and enhance
human health. |
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