Adisseo and Seventure Partners Announce €24m First Close of AVF, a New Fund Dedicated to Innovative Animal Health and Nutrition

PARIS--()--Seventure Partners, one of Europe’s leaders in financing innovation and a world-leader in Life science microbiome investment, today announces that it has launched AVF, the innovative venture capital fund, targeted at supporting companies in the field of animal health, feed and nutrition. The first close of AVF at €24m, is corner stoned by Adisseo, an industry leader in the animal feed sector.

The livestock sector is undergoing profound changes requiring the entire food chain to adapt accordingly and respond to strong global pressures and changing consumer expectations. The rapidly growing world population and the increased demand from emerging countries for animal protein present significant challenges to the sector, as well as the requirement to meet environmental objectives and for sustainable production within livestock industry.

At a global level, AVF’s investment strategy focuses on two segments at the forefront of the modern agricultural and livestock revolution: animal health, feed and nutrition and digital technologies serving the livestock industry.

Within the animal health sector, food digestibility, its nutritional value and energy potential, and the traceability of the entire animal food chain are major opportunities, as well as addressing the challenges around limiting the environmental footprint of the industry.

In addition to the animal health and nutrition sector, the digital agricultural technology field has seen exponential growth, partly driven by climate change and scarcity in resources and biodiversity, as well as heightened pressure from increasingly demanding consumers. AVF will also finance digital innovations applied to the livestock value chain, such as smart breeding and diagnosis, control and traceability tools.

AVF will primarily invest in innovative companies in Europe, North America and Israel, but will also be open to strong investment proposals from other geographies, including Asia.

Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and Managing Partner at Seventure Partners, stated: “Since the implementation of our new strategy in 2013, we have launched several institutional funds with defined investment themes, connecting prestigious strategic investors with serial entrepreneurs and financial institutional investors. We have launched funds in Digital technologies as well as in Life sciences. After the successful launch of Health for Life Capital™, which raised €160m with strategic partners such as Danone, Novartis, Tereos, Lesaffre and Bel to invest in the microbiome, digital innovation and in human health/nutrition/food, we are now launching AVF, a new fund in animal health and nutrition.”

Commenting on the need for and focus of the fund, Isabelle de Cremoux added: “This new thematic fund was created to address a very specific and expanding need in the market: preserving animal health, gaining a better understanding of the entire food value chain, as well as developing technologies to cultivate and produce food in a better way.

We are proud to count Adisseo among the privileged partners who share our vision and we will announce our first investments in the near future.”

Jean-Marc Dublanc, CEO of Adisseo, stated: “Adisseo is a unique company committed to strategic investments in new disruptive technologies, in order to enrich our portfolio of R&D innovations while respecting a mode of sustainable growth. Our ambition is to become one of the leaders in Feed Ingredient Specialties and the experienced partner of choice in animal nutrition.

For this reason, we have been investing significantly for many years in our research programs and industrial development projects.

With AVF, our goal is to invest in strategic collaborations combining the agility of start-ups with Adisseo’s expertise. As such, Seventure was a natural partner of choice and we are pleased to become a strategic investor in AVF.”

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

About Seventure Partners

With over €690m in assets under management as of the end of 2017, Seventure Partners is a leading venture capital firm in Europe. Since 1997, Seventure Partners has been investing in innovative businesses with high growth potential in two fields: Digital technologies in France and Germany, and Life sciences across Europe, Israel and North America.

In Life sciences, the four areas of focus include biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, digital/connected health and medtech, industrial biotechnology, and last but not least: the MICROBIOME, nutrition, foodtech and personalized medicine. Investments can range between €500k and €10m per round, or up to €20m per company, from early to late stage.

In December 2013, Seventure Partners successfully launched Health for Life Capital™ that invests in lifesciences worldwide, with a core focus on the microbiome revolution and its applications in human health and nutrition. The €160m fund has attracted strategic investments from prestigious organizations including Danone, Tereos, Tornier, Lesaffre, Bel and Novartis, as well as entrepreneurs and financial institutions.

In March 2018, Seventure Partners launched AVF, a new fund dedicated to invest in innovative solutions for animal nutrition, feed and health. Adisseo is one of the first strategic partners of the fund.

For more details: http://www.seventure.fr/en Twitter: @seventurep

About Adisseo

Adisseo is one of the world's leading experts in feed additives. The group relies on its seven research centers and its production sites based in Europe and China to design, produce and market nutritional solutions for sustainable animal feed.

With more than 1,900 employees, it serves around 2,600 customers in over 100 different countries through its global distribution network.

Adisseo is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and is one of the main subsidiaries of China National BlueStar, leader in the Chinese chemical industry with nearly 25,000 employees and a turnover of 6.4 billion euros.

Adisseo Corporate website: http://www.adisseo.com/

About Adisseo products and services

Adisseo offers its customers 4 forms of an essential amino acid, methionine for poultry and swine (Rhodimet® AT88 and Rhodimet® NP99) and protected methionine for ruminants (Smartamine® M and MetaSmart®), a complete range of vitamins (Microvit®), multi-activities enzymes (Rovabio®), and specialty Selisseo® and Alterion®.

Adisseo supports the development of its customers by providing valuable and innovative services such as PNE – Precise Nutrition Evaluation.

Adisseo Brands website: http://feedsolutions.adisseo.com

Contacts

Seventure Partners
At the Company
Isabelle de Cremoux
CEO and Managing Partner of Seventure Partners
Tel: + 33 1 58 19 22 77
Email: isabelle.decremoux@seventure.fr
or
In France
Agence Yucatan
Caroline Prince-Albagnac
Tel: +33 1 53 63 27 35
Email: cprince@yucatan.fr
or
International
Instinctif Partners
Sue Charles/ Gemma Harris
Tel: +44 20 7866 7860
Email: seventure@instinctif.com
or
Adisseo Media contacts:
In China
First Avenue
Grace Xu
Tel: + 86 13651838486
Email: grace.xu@firstavenue.com.cn
or
In France
Scenarii
Fabienne Lissak
Tel: +33 140 22 66 45 / +33 6 86 58 06 90
Email: flissak@scenarii.fr

Release Summary

Seventure Partners announces the launch of AVF, targeted at supporting companies in the field of animal health, feed and nutrition.

Contacts

Seventure Partners
At the Company
Isabelle de Cremoux
CEO and Managing Partner of Seventure Partners
Tel: + 33 1 58 19 22 77
Email: isabelle.decremoux@seventure.fr
or
In France
Agence Yucatan
Caroline Prince-Albagnac
Tel: +33 1 53 63 27 35
Email: cprince@yucatan.fr
or
International
Instinctif Partners
Sue Charles/ Gemma Harris
Tel: +44 20 7866 7860
Email: seventure@instinctif.com
or
Adisseo Media contacts:
In China
First Avenue
Grace Xu
Tel: + 86 13651838486
Email: grace.xu@firstavenue.com.cn
or
In France
Scenarii
Fabienne Lissak
Tel: +33 140 22 66 45 / +33 6 86 58 06 90
Email: flissak@scenarii.fr