Round

What’s the round like?

Pre-seed, Priced round of £500k at an undisclosed valuation. Our ticket size would be £250k.

What runway does this get them? When would they need to raise the next one?

18 months of runway till the beginning of H2 2024.

The next round would be a Seed of ~£3-5m to be raised in H2 2024.

What do we think they need to achieve in order to raise their next round?

And who would the ideal investors for the next round be?

In the next 18 months, the company will use the proceeds from this round to:

• reduce the production cost;

• increase the yield;

• fine-tune the organoleptic oil profile.

If these milestones are complete, Sun Bear will have developed an oil that is equivalent to commercial palm oil in its essential elements. However, price parity with palm oil might not be achieved, and collaborations with food producers might induce the company to implement further changes in the oil profile.

The ideal investors for the next round would be VCs that can follow on at Series A once the commercial proposition has been fully validated, and investors with experience and connections in the food industry to support the company as they negotiate contracts with large food conglomerates.

How much do they need to raise before the first revenue kicks in?

The first pilot contracts with the smaller food companies will start in H2 2023. These will represent the first injection of capital through services provided to external customers and will be achieved with the funding of the current round. Sun Bear plans to engage with and have data back from at least 5 potential customers by the end of the year who have tried our oil and reported back on its suitability and performance in their products.

Can we be of any help to this company?

Unruly has a number of prior investments in companies developing bioreactors and using biomanufacturing. These portfolio founders’ prior experience will be key to supporting the team at Sun Bear as they scale up their production capabilities and tackle the intrinsic challenges of precision fermentation. Unruly also has a wide crowd of co-investors in previous companies that have specific expertise in biomanufacturing and will be able to support Sun Bear as it goes on to raise larger amounts of capital to validate its commercial proposition.