The funds will further the global roll-out of Unibio’s protein-from-methane production technology.
Unibio International plc has raised additional capital from Mitsubishi Corporation.
The investment will allow Unibio and Mitsubishi to develop a strong partnership. The parties intend that Mitsubishi will support the roll out of projects on a global scale.
“We are very pleased to welcome Mitsubishi as a shareholder and partner,” said Unibio Group CEO Henrik Busch-Larsen. “Having a world-renowned partner, with an excellent track record, brings a lot of momentum to Unibio. It has been a pleasure working with the Mitsubishi team, we have built trust and a very good relationship, and I would like to thank Mitsubishi for their support and their commitment to the Unibio vision.”
Mitsubishi Corporation is a global integrated business enterprise that develops and operates businesses together with its offices and subsidiaries in approximately 90 countries and regions worldwide, as well as a global network of around 1,400 group companies.
Mitsubishi Corporation has 10 Business Groups that operate across virtually every industry. Through these 10 Business Groups, Mitsubishi Corporation’s current activities have expanded far beyond its traditional trading operations to include project development, production and manufacturing operations, working in collaboration with trusted partners around the globe.
With an unwavering commitment to conducting business with integrity and fairness, Mitsubishi Corporation remains fully dedicated to growing its businesses while contributing to a prosperous society.
As for the alternative protein business, to be developed together with Unibio, Mitsubishi Corporation considers that it has a variety of existing and potential functions to add value and develop the new Single Cell Protein business model covering the entire methane-to-food value chain.
Unibio is a world-leading alternative protein company with core competences in microbial fermentation technologies. In collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark and others, Unibio has developed a range of innovative technologies under the U-Loop brand. These technologies allow the cost-effective, large-scale conversion of methane (natural gas or biogas) into high-quality protein using methanotrophic (“methane-eating”) microbes.
Unlike most other alternative protein approaches, Unibio’s technologies allow the full decoupling of protein production from farming and fishing via a process that uses little water and no agricultural land. Uniprotein thus helps address one of the key challenges of today’s world – how to provide a growing population with high-quality food, without further exploiting depleted fish stocks or converting ever more land to intensive agriculture. At the same time, the process provides owners of gas assets with a commercially attractive way to valorize their gas, addressing significant and growing markets with a low environmental footprint process and product.
Unibio has its pilot and R&D facilities and demonstration plant in Denmark. The first full-scale production plant, constructed and operated by Unibio’s partner Protelux, is being commissioned in Russia.
Uniprotein is an organic, safe and extensively tested microbial protein that has been approved by the EU for all animal and fish species. Unibio has signed two licence agreements for the U-Loop technology, one for the Russian Federation and one for the USA.
