Carbiotix installerar första produktionslinjen
Food-techbolaget Carbiotix tar ytterligare steg mot att färdigställa produktionsanläggningen av bolagets prebiotiska fiber CarbiAXOS i FoodHills lokaler i Bjuv. I veckan meddelade bolaget att man nu är igång och installerar den första produktionslinjen, som man hoppas blir klar inom de närmaste månaderna. BioStock kontaktade vd Kristofer Cook för en kommentar.
Lundabolaget Carbiotix utvecklar CarbiAXOS, nästa generations prebiotiska modulatorer som ska ingå i kosttillskott och livsmedel, med en ambition om att med tiden även kunna ingå i medicinsk mat och i sjukdomsbehandlingar.
Produktionshallen färdigställd
Nyligen meddelade bolaget att produktionshallen på FoodHills i Bjuv har färdigställts enligt Carbiotix kravspecifikation, vilket innebär att man nu kan inleda installationsfasen.
Inom några månader kommer bolaget således ha kapacitet att producera upp till tio ton per år av den majsklibaserade prebiotiska fibern.
Uppskalning i planen
När pilotanläggningen står färdig räknar Carbiotix med att kunna skala upp produktionen ytterligare med en kapacitet upp till 100 ton per år från och med 2022.
Samtidigt som installationen pågår ska Carbiotix utveckla processer och rutiner för en effektiv produktion av fibrerna. Det sker bl.a. i samarbete med Balsgård Foodtech, experter inom livsmedelsutveckling och produktion, som Carbiotix meddelade under oktober. Läs mer.
Ledningen köper aktier
Produktionsanläggningen är en viktig del av den marknadsplan som bolaget kommunicerade tidigare under hösten. Enligt planen siktar Carbiotix på lansering av CarbioAXOS i kosttillskott i USA under 2022, i EU under 2023 och i resten av världen under året därpå. Läs mer om marknadsplanen här.
Som ett tecken på tilltro till utvecklingen i bolaget har vd Kristofer Cook ökat sitt innehav i Carbiotix sedan halvårsskiftet med drygt 100 000 aktier. Det senaste köpet inrapporterades i början av november. Även Erik Deaner, försäljningschef, har köpt aktier i bolaget under hösten.
Vd kommenterar
BioStock kontaktade Cook för en kommentar om de senaste nyheterna.
Kristofer, can you tell us more about the installation process in the near term?
– Now that the production hall has been handed over to us, we are moving full speed ahead to ensure that the first CarbiAXOS production line is installed and commissioned as soon as possible.
– As previously communicated, we are working with a trusted external engineering partner to accelerate this process, as well as an external spray drying partner to ensure that we can get to a stage of producing finished product as soon as possible and at the lowest cost with respect to capital expenditures (given that spray dryers are the largest capital expenditure with our process).
– We will also not diverge from this philosophy going forward, constantly looking for ways to expand our production in the most cost-efficient way possible and with the lowest risks for the company. In the short term, I look forward to soon communicating the completion of the installation phase and start-up of our first production line, another key milestone going forward.
What will this mean in terms of sales in relation to the market plan you announced earlier this fall?
– Although I try to be very aggressive across all company activities, I also try to be very pragmatic with regards to setting goals in the short term. In this regard, my focus is to get our first sales contract in place and deliveries out during next year.
– What this translates to in terms of sales revenues is less important for me at least in the short term, as the focus will be on providing samples to potential customers and building out the sales pipeline.
– We are currently constrained by the volume of product that we can produce, so it is important to manage the sales pipeline with this in mind, expanding our customer base and sales volumes in line with our production capacity expansion efforts. One can thus assume that any expansion of our production capacity is motivated to meet a growing demand.
We have also noted that you have increased your shareholding in Carbiotix, would you like to comment on that?
– I think it is safe to say that my conviction that Carbiotix will succeed is strong and only increases with each key milestone we reach. Thus, increasing my holding in Carbiotix over time and when appropriate only makes sense. Although I am not able to comment on the share price and value of the company, I know that we are still in the early days of the company, with a number of key milestones quickly approaching that will define the trajectory and value potential of the company going forward.
– I of course have the luxury to know everything about the company in terms of what we are working on and what is in the pipeline. For me, however, I like to look at things in more simple or first principle terms. I know that we have a very compelling value proposition and competitive position with our “Smart Prebiotics” in a 5 billion Euro global market for prebiotics.
– Moreover, I see a very clear path for this market to at least 10x in the not-so-distant future. This is based on the fact that roughly 90% of people in the world are lacking up to 80% of the soluble fibre or prebiotics they should be consuming in their diets on a daily basis. Knowing this and that prebiotics play such a key role in maintaining human health, from immune-system integrity, to blood sugar and cholesterol management, to reducing the risk of developing many chronic and metabolic diseases, I believe prebiotics will soon experience s-curve exponential growth.
– Satisfying this demand will be a challenge for all my industry colleagues as well as a significant growth opportunity for all companies in the industry that are well positioned. My goal is to ensure that Carbiotix is well positioned to capture as much of this growth as possible, and I will continue to manage the company so that we are laser focused on this primary goal.
Innehållet i BioStocks nyheter och analyser är oberoende men BioStocks verksamhet är i viss mån finansierad av bolag i branschen. Detta inlägg avser ett bolag som BioStock erhållit finansiering från.
