In this podcast series, Alex Shandrovsky interviews investors about benchmarks for funding alt proteins in 2024 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful climate tech CEOs and leading VCs.
Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including alternative proteins and cellular agriculture leaders. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies.
Series 2, Episode 4: Lewis Dunnigan of Bygen
In this episode, Alex talks to Lewis Dunnigan, Co-Founder & CEO of Bygen, which has developed a unique new technology called ‘low-temperature activation’ (LTA) that enables the production of sustainable and high-quality activated carbon. The discussion highlights the strategic considerations for startups navigating licensing agreements and the importance of aligning interests between founders, investors, and partner organizations. The emphasis on operational transparency, risk mitigation, and the importance of a strong foundational technology is critical for gaining investor trust and achieving long-term success.
Key Facts Bygen:
Goal: To enable the low cost and sustainable production of a material called activated carbon
Raised US$ 2.5 Million led by some Australian climate tech investors, including Breakfree Victoria, Albert’s impact capital and Artesian Investments.
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Alex’s Top Findings:
Focus on licensing the technology rather than building on operating production facilities.“Our decision early on to focus on licensing the technology rather than build on operating production facilities, it really kind of enabled us to even be considered a viable investment by a VC because it is a means to grow the company through relatively little investment,” Lewis emphasizes.
Signing up offtake agreements before production. Lewis said, “We basically sign up offtake agreements before production plants come online. That’s an easier way to sell it. You don’t get the same high value as you get by selling it in small quantities. So we sort of keep 95 percent of our offtakes for those types of customers and then we also have some internal sales capabilities to sell smaller amounts at higher prices on the spot market.”
Getting the IP out of the university. “We did manage to get the IP out of the university but it wasn’t an easy process. We actually went out and got feedback from the market and said that we don’t think that we’ll be able to raise money if we license it, sub-license the technology, or if we have the technology but there’s significant royalties attached to it. They have equity in the business in return.” Lewis added.
Link to Apple Podcast here.
Catch the full podcast series here.
