Calysta appoints CFO after fundraising round
ALTERNATIVE protein producer Calysta has announced two senior appointments. The company has appointed Keysha Bailey as Chief Financial Officer, while Rabobank veteran Jacqueline Pieters-Zetsma joins the Board of Directors as an independent non-executive board member.
Calysta uses a process involving the fermentation of natural gas to create a protein that can be used to produce FeedKind, its proprietary animal and aquafeed. The world’s first commercial-scale FeedKind® production facility is being developed in China by Calysseo, Calysta’s 50/50 joint venture with feed giant Adisseo.
As CFO, Keysha Bailey brings more than 20 years of strategic financial and operational leadership in both the public and private sectors, including investment and capital markets experience with JP Morgan and Prudential. She was most recently CFO at Rocketship Education in California.
Bailey commented: “I’m delighted to be joining Calysta as the company begins a significant new chapter in its history. I’m looking forward to working as part of the senior team to steer the organisation as it plans to enter the Asian market and works to address the very real challenge of making our global food system more sustainable.”
News of the appointments came days after Calysta announced completion of a $39m equity financing round, led by bp ventures, to support commercial production of FeedKind protein. Joining bp ventures in the round were Adisseo and AquaSpark, as well as other existing Calysta investors.
Calysseo is in the process of building the world’s first FeedKind commercial production facility in Chongqing, China, with 20,000 tonnes expected to come onto the market in 2022 with a further 60,000 tonnes shortly thereafter.
Investors in Calysta include bp, Adisseo, Temasek, AquaSpark, Mitsui and Cargill.
MOWI believes the number of fish lost in a mass-mortality event at one of its sites in eastern Canada could be as many as 450,000.
The losses are being blamed on low dissolved oxygen levels at Mowi’s farm at the Gorge, on the south coast of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The provincial Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture posted an update on 22 September with the estimate, which accounts for around 24% of fish on the site. The department said the incident was “site-specific” and stressed that no abnormal mortalities had been identified at any other sites in the region.
The department said: “Under oversight of the department, the company is taking all responsible steps to address the incident. Mitigation measures include deeper nets and aeration equipment at the site. Department staff have been conducting sampling and observing seining activities, with the full cooperation of the company.”
The statement added that Mowi had been fully transparent and co-operative with the department throughout the process.
Mowi reported in late September that 212,100 mortalities had been removed from the site to date. Harvesting of the remaining fish at the site began at the start of the week commencing 20 September.