AquaBounty has raised about USD 15.5 million (EUR 14.4 million) following the completion of a public stock offering last week, not including expenses.
The Maynard, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based salmon producer of AquAdvantage salmon sold 10,350,000 shares of common stock at a price of USD 1.50 (EUR 1.39) per share.
The company is planning to use the net proceeds to continue construction and renovation activities of its existing facilities in Rollo Bay, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and Albany, Indiana, U.S.A. for working capital costs associated with growing its first batches of fish at those sites and for other corporate purposes, according to AquaBounty spokesperson Dave Conley.
The company is also planning on building another recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) salmon farm overseas, potentially in China, AquaBounty CEO Sylvia Wulf told SeafoodSource. The company is also exploring an expansion in the U.S., as well as in Israel and Brazil, she said.
AquaBounty recently released a research report showing that the majority of consumers are willing to try genetically engineered salmon.
“Up until this point in time, AquaBounty was a biotech firm,” Chief Commercial Officer David Melbourne told SeafoodSource. The process of getting regulatory approval in the U.S. and developing the product has taken over two decades, with commercial production of the fish a relatively recent development in the life of the company. “Now that we are moving into launch mode, it’s ‘OK, how do we start to reframe this conversation.’”
The first 120,000 genetically engineered salmon eggs at its Indiana facility in early 2019 and the company has projected its first commercial harvest will take place in the fourth quarter of 2020.
For the fiscal years ending 31 December 2018 and 2017, AquaBounty realized operating losses of USD 10.4 million (EUR 9.3 million) and USD 9.3 million (EUR 8.3 million), respectively. Its net loss for the nine months ending 30 September, 2019, came in at USD 9.8 million (EUR 8.9 million).
