Sumitomo Corporation makes investment in Brazilian insect protein production and biotechnology company Cyns to Support Next Generation Sustainable Feed Production

BRAZIL - Portuguese

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Jan 30, 2024, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Sumitomo Corporation, through Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil S.A. announced today a joint investment in a Seed round for Cyns, a biotechnology company located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to unlock the next chapter of black soldier fly (BSF) farming in Latin America. Lambarin Investimentos, a Brazilian family office and wealth management firm, has also joined the Seed Funding Round together with Sumitomo.

Cyns is the leading biotechnology company specialized in sustainable insect-based animal nutrition in South America, having been the first company to obtain regulatory approval to produce and market black soldier fly-based ingredients for animal nutrition in Brazil. The company is located in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, the most prominent agtech valley in Brazil, and has developed a unique, cost-competitive horizontal BSF rearing system that delivers high bioconversion rates with minimum HVAC requirements by leveraging Brazil's naturally-suitable conditions for BSF rearing and large availability of sustainable food byproduct streams which are used as the source of nutrition for BSF larvae.

Cyns originated in 2015 as a project incubated by Bug Biological Agents, which was the pioneer in insect rearing for biological pest control in Latam. In 2020, it received its first angel investment from Lambarin Investimentos, and in 2022 Cyns opened Brazil's first BSF industrial pilot to receive regulatory approval. Since then, Cyns has successfully introduced its ingredients to the market, which can now be found in dog treats, bird and other exotic pet foods available in Brazil's largest pet retail outlets.

"We are excited to support the accelerated growth and distribution of alternative feed ingredients needed for animal feeds in Latin America", said João Simões, Insect Protein Project Leader at Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil S.A. "Ensuring a sustainable supply chain while reducing its carbon footprint is critical in today's business landscape, and we are proud to partner with Cyns to accomplish this important work."

"We believe that we have an extremely competitive technology and have developed a very high quality product. The partnership with Lambarim and Sumitomo will expand our commercial operations in America and around the world and allow us to scale production at the levels that this business demands," said João Pisa Cyns director.

Sumitomo and Lambarin's new investment will support Cyns' next stage of growth, in which they plan to establish a brand new BSF rearing facility that will be able to produce 1,000 MT of BSF meal/year, and reach new markets including dog and cat food, aquaculture and monogastric livestock in Brazil and Latam. The company is also preparing for its Series A investment round, expected for 2026, when the company should be ready to expand production capacity in Brazil and internationally, starting from neighboring countries in South America.

Insect-based nutrition is one of the leading solutions to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of animal nutrition, which together with agriculture, make up the 2nd largest source of greenhouse gas emissions with roughly 25% of all emissions. Insect-based ingredients are known for having a much lower carbon intensity than those of its plant and animal-based ingredient counterparts, contributing to reduce the carbon footprint of pet food and animal feed by at least 60-70% or more.

Together with the investment, Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil has also inked a commercial partnership agreement with Cyns, under which Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil will be in charge of application development and R&D, as well as marketing Cyns' products in the Americas Region.

About Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil
Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil (SCBR is a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, one of the world's leading traders of goods and services). As an integrated business enterprise, the firm has emerged as a major organizer of multinational projects, an expediter of ideas, an important international investor and financier, and a powerful force for distribution of products and global communications through a network of offices worldwide. Its core businesses include Energy, Automotive, Social Infrastructure, Agri-food and Life Science, Construction and Transportation Systems, Real Estate, Mineral Resources and Energy Innovation.

Sumitomo Corporation has highlighted mitigation of climate change as one of its key areas of focus, and has committed to being carbon neutral by 2050. For more information, visit www.sumitomocorp.com.

About Lambarin Investimentos
Lambarin is a company that invests in the areas of biotechnology, agricultural technology, sustainable production and capital markets. Our focus is to find entrepreneurs and innovative products/services to help them put their plans into operation, through equity funding. Learn more at www.lambarin.com.

About Cyns
Founded by Paulo Bogorni and João Pisa, and incubated at BUG Agentes Biológicos, previously the largest insect producer in Brazil, Cyns embarked on the journey of scaling up Black Soldier Fly (BSF) production in 2017. Today, with a well-defined production and processing system in place, Cyns stands poised to become the leading supplier of ingredients derived from Hermetia illucens. This venture significantly contributes to enriching the feed for various animal species. www.cyns.com.br

SOURCE Sumitomo Corporation of Americas