Edinburgh-based Green Bioactives Ltd (GBL), a developer of plant-derived natural products, announced it has successfully completed a £2.6 million seed financing round.

GBL was founded in 2020 and is currently based at the Roslin Innovation Centre in Edinburgh.

The funding round was led by Eos Advisory LLP and included investments from London-based Regenerate Ventures’ Agtech Fund, London and Singapore co-headquartered Milltrust International Group, and Scottish Enterprise, which also provided the company with advisory support.

​The financing will enable the company to grow its management, production and research team capabilities, allowing the company to demonstrate its biomanufacturing approach at larger scale.

​GBL said it is currently working with several world-leading partners to produce high value bioactives that cannot be readily produced sustainably or economically using alternative production approaches.

The firm said these include:

• A multinational consumer goods company developing and selling products in foods and drinks, home care, personal care and cosmetics

• A multinational biotechnology company developing and selling products for commercial applications in pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare and agriculture

• A global agricultural solutions company specialising in the development, marketing, and processing of agricultural inputs such as crop protection products, seeds, and fertilizers

“The funds will also be used to pursue new sector-specific commercial partnerships, to increase marketing efforts and product sales and to secure IP and Freedom to Operate on both the company’s core biomanufacturing process components and its product-specific plant cell lines,” said Green Bioactives.

“To meet these goals, Green Bioactives has already begun hiring for a range of commercial and technical roles across the business.”

​Eos Advisory partner Andrew Durkie will join the Green Bioactives board.

​Green Bioactives CEO David McElroy said: “This £2.6m seed funding is an incredibly exciting milestone for Green Bioactives, and we’re delighted to have attracted such a strong international investor base – demonstrating the global commercial potential of our plant cell culture-based biomanufacturing platform.

“The investment comes at a key time for the company, as we prepare for further growth and continue to develop our technology, working towards our goal of becoming the world’s leading supplier of safe, natural and sustainably-sourced plant-derived products.”

​Andrew Durkie of Eos said: “Green Bioactives represents an exciting, innovative approach to the production of plant-derived natural products, and the company’s ethos of sustainability makes it a stand-out player at a time when companies across a range of industries are searching for more environmentally-friendly and commercially-viable ways to produce these kinds of products.

“Green Bioactives has demonstrated significant progress on its platform since its formation, and we’re excited to be helping the company develop further as part of this seed round.”