The Company

AGP is a UK company incorporated on 27^th June 2014 and is currently valued at £2,492,337. AGP.s paid up share capital is made up of 111,764 shares of £0.50. These shares will, at the close of the fund raise, be sub divided by 10 to give 1,117,640 shares of £0.05. The company is offering 33,632 shares at £2.23 per share to raise a maximum of £75,000. The minimum investment is £44.60. These shares come with the benefit of EIS tax relief (30%). Sciiona is the brand trading name of AGP. The company is run by its two directors, Victor Thomson and Gary Walker and a team of experienced advisors. The two directors have loaned the company over £114,000 which will be converted at the same price offered to investors in this pitch.

The Opportunity

There is a clear gap in the ‘superfood powder’ market that our patented @ Sciiona ^TM transferable platform technology and large pipeline of products will fill and dominate. Exciting commercial opportunities exist across the brand hierarchy: B2C (Ecommerce and retail); B2B ingredient market and own label with a pipeline of new products. 

Sciiona re-defines bitter tasting ‘supergreens’, introducing Sciiona Moringa as our launch product. You may not have heard of Moringa, but Moringa is ranked number 1 in the authoritative BBC good food guide to superfood powders:

These powdered extracts, moringa, acai, maca, chlorella, baobab and spirulina are our pipeline products, which will be transformed by the Sciiona technology.

Our solution

Platform technology (which is readily transferrable to other competitor products) micro-coats each tiny particle in edible vegetable cellulose, protecting the vitamins, minerals and proteins from heat, moisture and harsh stomach acids. It removes the bitter taste and targets release in the intestine and is nutritionally undamaged when added to hot food.

Explanatory statement from Professor Wendy Russell of the Rowett Institute

“Raw Source Plant leaf powder has a pungent smell and unpleasant taste.  This is attributed to the formation of isothiocyanates. These compounds are considered beneficial for health, so we do not want to degrade or remove these. Therefore, we have designed a microencapsulated product which has no bitter taste and retains all the nutritional benefits. We have developed a food product that can replace the current moringa powders in the market ‘as is’ with the main competitive advantage being that it is palatable. However, there are significant additional benefits in that this palatable product can be used as a food ingredient in a wide range of products (including baked goods, breads, snack bars, drinks etc.) making it more readily available to a wider group of consumers who desire a functional food, rather than a nutraceutical. We can also use the technology to flavour the product, providing enhanced palatability and the possibility of a child friendly product. We have to date worked on the leaf, but the technology can be adapted to other parts of the plant, isolated fraction (i.e. protein or fibre- rich fractions)”

                Sciiona  Independent Analysis

The Sciiona process has been independently analysed by:

1. The University of Aberdeen, Rowett Institute www.abdn.ac.uk/rowett
2. Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), an Executive Agency of Defra, www.fera.co.uk. Fera confirmed nutritional values
3. Aelius Biotech https://aeliusbiotech.co.uk/ Simulation confirmed gut release
4. Eurofins https://www.eurofins.com/ confirmed food standards.

Our target market

$1.5bn moringa +$4bn superfood powder market

Moringa has been chosen as the first Sciiona product as it is one of the most nutrient dense trees on earth. The Food and Agricultural Organisation of United Nations (FAO) affirm the value and special qualities of moringa, which is a recognised ‘superfood’ containing all 18 amino acids (9 essential) and is packed with 100+ nutrients and 50+ antioxidants. Raw Moringa is hampered by its unpleasant taste and instability when exposed to heat, moisture, acids, or alkalis, resulting in the loss of sensitive vitamins and proteins. Used by indigenous communities for centuries as a rich source of nutrition, Moringa has only in recent years come to the attention of Western Scientists and consumers.

Sales and Marketing

Our sales channels will include Ecommerce, lead generation strategies, leveraging SEO, PPC, Social, Content Marketing, and Landing Pages. We aim to achieve the following:

1. From July 1st year target 3,000 on-line sales a month + a new retail outlet every week
2. User database to exceed 100,000
3. Feature in Amazon UK’s top 10
4. Grow retail outlets and territories

Marketing activities

Our marketing plan is to develop our Ecommerce presence, using intelligent lead generation, SEO, PPC, Social Content strategies to maximize sales and support B2C retail.

Competitive advantage

• Sciiona is a pioneering technology with a patent pending in 155 countries under a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
• Our unique process is the future of nutritional delivery for all superfood powders.
• As much as the direct competition is good, the transformative Sciiona ^TM process can make them so much better, using our disruptive technology to improve stability, controlled release (choice of slow or targeted) eliminate taste issues and improve all-round performance.
• AGP has a Global licence to the IP and has built an extensive body of knowledge, trade secrets and robust supply chain, which underpins the business idea, identifies the commercial opportunities and forms background IP values. The trade secrets are unique to AGP.
• 1st mover advantage - unique alternative to initially compete in Moringa market and additionally the ‘superfood powder market’ with roll-out of ‘Next Generation’ range of products.