Public and investor interest in the microalgae space has surged in the last decade, now registering all-time highs. With its vertically integrated, microalgae platform and a new CEO underway,
Investor interest in microalgae picking up pace
For decades, the most interesting and tantalising possibility with algae and microalgae has centered around biofuels. But so far, algae biofuel projects have failed to deliver at scale, while the unique characteristics of microalgae, in recent years, have attracted the attention of other, more refined industries. Today, microalgae are accepted as potential alternatives to proteins. Others reckon they can replace plastics. There is also a vivid interest in the unique properties of microalgae from the cosmeceutical industry, and in the horizon looms some highly advanced applications in the pharma industry.
This has not gone unnoticed by the investor community. And while most companies in the microalgae field are privately held, they have registered an accelerating media attention, peaking at 155 articles about microalgae companies in
According to market intelligence firm CB Insights, the global microalgae industry has attracted well over 100 MUSD in VC financing in the past five years, not to mention the M&A-activity that looking back over the past decade ranges into several hundreds of million EUR. And while many of these firm have microalgae products in commercial phase, the whole microalgae market can still be considered to be in its infancy, as various market research firms estimate the total global market to be less than
Apart from Simris, there is only one other listed peer focused on microalgae, French Fermentalg. While the IPO was oversubscribed by 4,5x back in 2014, the share price performance has been disappointing, down by two thirds. In the last year however, the
Simris a unique opportunity for investors
According to international cosmetics veteran
In
In terms of drivers for a revaluation, the announcement of new B2B deals will be key. We also see that the next CEO will play a vital role in capitalizing on Simris’ unique platform, although the company has yet to present the successor of Simris’ former CEO and founder, the algae pioneer Fredrika Gullfot.
In terms of using peers as guidance for valuation, the
All in all, we continue to see a high but difficult-to-quantify potential for the stock, supported by international investor activity and peer valuations, new management underway and the ongoing shift in focus to B2B. At the same time, we see considerable risks associated with execution, commercialization and financing, although we expect the latter to be addressed in some sort of capital raise, soon after a new CEO takes the helm, to finance scale-up in 2022.
Read research article here https://www.emergers.se/simris_g_en/
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