US Fermentation Plant Liberation Bioindustries Still Lacks $25m, No Acceptable Sale Offers
Liberation Bioindustries received no acceptable offers after a strategic review and is seeking another $25 million to finish its food-protein biomanufacturing plant in Indiana. Construction is on pause.
US biomanufacturing company Liberation Bioindustries has received no acceptable offers for a sale or joint venture after a four-month strategic review. As a result, its contract manufacturing plant in Richmond, Indiana, will have to be completed without an outside partner. The news came in a 29 September stock market filing from Agronomics, a key shareholder. The plant is intended for precision fermentation, producing food proteins on behalf of other companies.
The funding gap
The facility has a capacity of 600,000 liters and was originally due to start operating at the end of 2024. Construction is now paused while the company seeks another $25 million. About $125 million in equity, debt and other support has already been committed. Agronomics says some of the expected financing never arrived, and that delays, exceptional costs and higher expenses linked to global economic conditions created the shortfall.
Agronomics and other institutional shareholders are working to raise the money through additional equity, further secured debt, public authority grants and loans, and customer pre-payments. The aim is a full funding package in the first half of 2027. If the money is secured, the site could be running within six months. All major construction elements are finished, and the remaining funds are mostly for piping, welding and electrical work.
Industry view
Cofounder Mark Warner described the plant in 2023 as the world's first fit-for-purpose precision fermentation food protein facility. Industry sources quoted by AgFunderNews point to several possible reasons for the difficulty: few startups can sign binding multi-million-dollar annual contracts, the plant's scale does not deliver the lowest possible costs, investor attention has shifted to artificial intelligence, and interest rates are high.
Chief executive Etan Bendheim said over the summer that stated interest covered well over 200% of available capacity, but that customers want certainty on the start date while funders want firmer commitments. He does not believe competition is holding the company back.
