Sea Change Management

Columbia, MD and San Francisco, CA - Advanced BioNutrition Corp. (ABN) closes a $7.75 million Series C financing. ABN is a biotechnology company with a strong intellectual property portfolio in several areas of expertise, including probiotic micro-encapsulation, recombinant protein production and Omega-3 fatty acid development for aquafeeds. The financing was led by the Sea Change Investment Fund, LLC and included participation from existing investors Sherbrooke Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures, BASF Venture Capital GmbH, and Arancia Industrial SA de CV, as well as two new private investors.

Through one of its primary business lines, ABN offers essential polyunsaturated long-chain fatty acids (DHA and ARA) for use as components in aquatic diets. Derived from algae, these highly concentrated forms of natural essential fatty acids can be used as a partial or total replacement for fish oil, or as a means to boost the concentration of fatty acids in feed diets. This financing round significantly expands the company’s aquaculture rollout strategy and its capacity to reach new aquafeed markets.

“Sea Change is extremely excited about this partnership. ABN has developed an alternative to fish meal and fish oil with significant long-term price and growth rate advantages,” said Jason Winship, Managing Principal of Sea Change. “Given the cost and efficiency advantages of the AquaGrow® product and the rising costs of fish meal and fish oil, we believe ABN will help break the global aquafeed industry’s dependence on wild fisheries over the next five years.” According to Matthew Elliott, Conservation Director of Sea Change, “Fully one-third of global fish landings are ground up to create fish meal and fish oil, which puts enormous pressure on coastal marine ecosystems. We are enthusiastic about the ABN solution because it provides an economic incentive to leave those fish in the sea.”

“With this new funding and relationship, ABN can now focus on what we believe to be the only truly sustainable and traceable alternative to the use of fish meal and fish oil in aquaculture, ensuring the growth of the industry without collapsing ocean fishery resources,” said William F. Kirk, CEO and Chairman of ABN.

Advanced BioNutrition Corp. is a biotech leader in the aquaculture industry, providing its customers with science-based proprietary products that improve animal health and human nutrition, increase safety, and ensure environmental sustainability. The Company is headquartered in Columbia, MD.

The Sea Change Investment Fund is a double-bottom line venture capital fund focused on stimulating the market for sustainable seafood. Through its investments, the Fund intends to generate conservation benefits to improve the health of fisheries and the marine environment, in addition to financial returns for its investors. Launched in March 2005, the Fund is capitalized with a $10 million program-related loan from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and matched by $10 million of private equity capital.