This first shipment, valued at approximately US$1 million, is part of a framework agreement with a world-leading oil and gas company
Rehovot, Israel – September 27, 2023 – Casterra Ag Ltd. (“Casterra”), an integrated castor cultivation solution company and a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (“Evogene”) (Nasdaq: EVGN; TASE: EVGN), today announced the shipment of its first batch of high-yield, high-oil castor seeds from Brazil and Zambia to its destination in Africa. This shipment, valued at US$1 million, is the first step in meeting US$11.3M purchase orders from a world-leading oil and gas company, which Casterra received in the second quarter of 2023.
Casterra’s premium castor seeds are developed using Evogene’s GeneRator AI tech-engine and undergo rigorous testing to meet industry standards. These seeds exhibit high-level cleanliness, successfully passed phytosanitary inspection, and have a germination percentage rate of 90%, exceeding the industry acceptance criteria benchmark.
Casterra CEO Eyal Ronen said: “We are pleased to initiate shipments under this framework agreement with a leading oil and gas company, demonstrating the feasibility of shipping large amounts of seeds, even across continents. Casterra anticipates it will supply the remainder of these seed’s orders in the coming months.”
About Casterra Ag Ltd.:
Casterra is engaged in developing and commercializing high-yielding castor bean seeds as a cost-competitive, sustainable, second-generation feedstock for the growing biofuel market. It has built its castor genetic assets based on a broad collection of over 300 castor lines from over 40 different geographic and climatic regions. As part of its development process, Casterra applies advanced breeding methods utilizing Evogene’s GeneRator AI tech-engine, enabling the use of cutting-edge plant genomics tools and agro-technique expertise to enable efficient and sustainable industrial-scale production of the castor bean.
For more information, please visit http://www.casterra.co
About Evogene Ltd.:
Evogene (Nasdaq: EVGN, TASE: EVGN) is a computational biology company aiming to revolutionize the development of life-science-based products by utilizing cutting-edge technologies to increase the probability of success while reducing development time and cost. Evogene established three unique tech-engines – MicroBoost AI, ChemPass AI, and GeneRator AI – leveraging Big Data and Artificial Intelligence and incorporating deep multidisciplinary understanding in life sciences. Each tech-engine is focused on the discovery and development of products based on one of the following core components: microbes (MicroBoost AI), small molecules (ChemPass AI), and genetic elements (GeneRator AI).
Evogene uses its tech-engines to develop products through subsidiaries and strategic partnerships. Evogene’s subsidiaries currently utilize the tech-engines to develop human microbiome-based therapeutics by Biomica, ag-biologicals by Lavie Bio, ag-chemicals by AgPlenus, medical cannabis products by Canonic and castor varieties, for the biofuel and other industries, by Casterra.
For more information, please visit www.evogene.com
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as “will”, “may”, “could”, “expects”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “demonstrates”, or words of similar meaning. For example, Evogene and Casterra are using forward-looking statements in this press release when they discuss the expected timing of delivery of Casterra’s seeds and meeting the $11.3M purchase orders from a world-leading oil and gas company. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, and involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene and its subsidiaries may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Evogene and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation, those risk factors contained in Evogene’s reports filed with applicable securities authorities. Evogene and its subsidiaries disclaim any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions.
Contacts:
Rachel Pomerantz Gerber
Head of Investor Relations at Evogene
rachel.pomerantz@evogene.com
Tel: +972-8-9311901