ICL Invests in Sustainable Protein Ingredients Startup Arkeon to Support Fermentation

ICL, a leading global specialty minerals company, announced its AgriFood innovation and investment platform, ICL Planet Startup Hub, has invested €2 75 million in Arkeon, GmbH The investment will support Arkeon’s innovative and sustainable one-step fermentation bioprocess, which creates completely customizable protein ingredients by capturing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and converting it into the 20 proteinogenic amino acids necessary for human nutrition

The resulting alternative proteins are carbon negative and clean-label functional ingredients Arkeon’s patented process pioneered the harnessing of carbon dioxide to make protein –through the use of archaea, a highly resilient singlecelled microorganism –without genetic engineering Archaea, part of the microbiota of all organisms, naturally feeds on carbon dioxide and transforms these environmental emissions into nutri- tious protein – meaning the process is not just sustainable, it is also regenerative

“I dedicated much of the past decade to exploring new and sustainable biotechnological methods of alternative protein production,” said Gregor Tegl, PhD, system ICL ’ s support and partnership will be instrumental in helping us scale our archaea-derived protein production capabilities ”

“ A r k e o n h a s a c h i e v e d a m a j o r b re a kthrough, by finding a way to nourish peop l e a n d re v i t a l i z e o u r e c o s y s t e m s a t t h e s a m e t i m e , ” s a i d H a d a r S u t o v s k y, vice president of External Innovation at ICL, and general m a n a g e r o f I C L P l a n e t “ A r k e o n ’ s d e d i c a t i o n t o d ev e l o p i n g a re n e w a b l e a n d e a s y - t o - u s e p ro t e i n i s c o mpletely in-line with our organ i z a t i o n ’ s c o m m i t m e n t t o creating impactful solutions for humanity’s sustainability challenges in the global food markets ”

ICL Food Specialties growth strategy of pursuing new frontiers in unique and functional alternative proteins

“As an established corporation, we are able to offer our advanced infrastructure, extensive experience and accrued insights, plus market and regulatory related support We look for ward to working with this promising start-up to unlock a whole new food categor y based on Arkeon’s unique protein discovery, which is not dependent on land and requires minimal use of water, providing it with a limited ecological footprint ” co-founder and CEO of Arkeon “Our team has harnessed proficiencies in microbiology and gas fermentation to create an entirely new regenerative food-production

“Although a young company, Arkeon brings to the table innovative and sustainable technology for use in creating the next generation of alternative protein products,” said Rado Sporka, vice president of the Food Specialties Commercial Business for ICL “They also fully align with

ICL is leading the current SAFE investment round, which totals more than €4 million and includes other investors, as well As the newest portfolio member of ICL ’ s Planet Startup Hub, Arkeon will have full access to the ICL Food Specialties stateof-the-art R&D labs and production facilities

Arkeon marks ICL ’ s third investment over the past 12 months, via its Planet Startup Hub, which the company launched in 2021 The accelerator was established to nurture and advance both early stage and pilot-ready innovative companies operating within the FoodTech and AgriTech domains GN