Evogene Ltd.

ladies and gentlemen thank you for standing by welcome to evagen's fourth quarter and full year 2022 results conference call all participants are at present in listen only mode following management's formal presentation instructions will be given for the question and answer session for operator assistance during the conference please press star zero as a reminder this conference is being recorded before we begin I would like to caution that certain statements made during this earnings conference call by Evogen's management will constitute forward-looking statements that relate to future events, risks, and uncertainties regarding business strategy, operations, and future performance and results of Evogen. I encourage you to review Evogen's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and read the note regarding forward-looking statements in today's earnings release, which states, that statements made in the earnings release and in a similar way on this earnings conference call that are not historical facts may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For example, Evagen is using forward-looking statement in this call when it discusses its expected paths to value creation, including potential fundraisings, At the subsidiary level, its and its subsidiaries' expected trials and their expected results, studies, product advancements, commercializations, launches, pipelines, milestones, potential collaborations, and other plans for 2023 and beyond. Expected burn rate, the potential advantages of its technology and its anticipated entry into new fields of activity. All forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of the announcement of results. Many of the factors that impact whether forward-looking statements will come true are beyond the control of Evagen and may cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. Evagen is under no obligation to update publicly or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. except as otherwise required by law. We expressly disclaim any obligation to do so. More detailed information about the risk factors potentially adversely impacting our performance can be found in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That said, I would now like to turn over the call to Ofer Khabib, Evogen's CEO. Ofer, please go ahead.

Thank you for joining Evogen's fourth quarter earnings call today. and full year 2022 results. I would like to welcome all of you. I want to review Evogen's achievements in 2022 and provide you with an update on our activities, as well as potential catalysts during the next 12 months. Following my review, Evogen's Executive Vice President of Business Development, Eyal Ornen, who also serves as CEO of our subsidiary, Castera, will give an update on Tastera's activity. Evogen's CFO, Yaron Eldad, will provide a financial summary and update. After that, we will open the Q&A session. Evogen has been using its AI-driven computational predictive biology platform to direct and accelerate the discovery and development of life science-based products ranging from microbiome therapeutics in humans to a wide range of agriculture applications to a medical cannabis. Our AI-driven computational biology tech engines support product development in our five main subsidiaries. In addition, Evergen has an internal seed trade division, and recently, on December 8, we announced that we would receive a $3.5 million payment from Bayer relating to Evogen's patent portfolio under its seed trade collaboration with Bayer. Evogen is focusing on developing three AI-driven tech engines. MicroBoost AI, supporting microbe-based products, Campus AI, supporting small molecules-based products, and Generator AI, supporting products based on modifying genetic elements. The goal of our tech engines is to identify the most promising candidate or mix of candidates that meet a specifically desired life science product criteria and to support the candidate's development process leading to a commercial product. By doing so, we are solving an urgent biological or chemical problem, providing a solution that will address a substantial need and hopefully create significant commercial value. I would like to emphasize that whenever we are identifying a specific microbe, gene, or small molecule, there is always a huge multitude of potential candidates. Our AI and big data-driven computational biology platform helps find that needle in a high-tech, in a way and in a timeframe that our competitors or partners may not be able to accomplish. This enables reduced development time saving a significant cost, and most importantly, increased probability of success in developing a commercial life science-based product. Each of our three AI-driven tech engines has helped Avogen establish a business ecosystem that includes either independent subsidiaries or strategic collaborations focused on developing products for a specific life science market segment or product type. In a few moments, I will review the impressive recent accomplishment of our five subsidiaries, which demonstrate the power and the value of our AI-driven tech engine underlying the product development process. Looking ahead, we intend to continue to invest and improve our AI tech engines, addressing more potential life science discoveries, and provide better and novel solutions to development challenges. It's important to me to emphasize that Evogen is actively looking to increase shareholder value by entering into various business relationships with leading multinational companies for product development using our engines, generating revenue by commercializing and selling products, meeting all its milestones, including those under various collaboration agreements, raising external funds at the subsidiary level that demonstrate their value and working hard to provide shareholders with a greater understanding of our business and subsidiaries' achievements. As I mentioned, Evogen 5 subsidiaries have reached multiple achievements this past year and have multiple upcoming milestones in the year ahead, which we believe will create value for each of the subsidiaries and for Evogen's shareholders. I would like now to review them separately, and I will start with Evogen's subsidiary, LaviBio, leveraging Evogen's MicroBoost AI tech engine as part of its biology-driven design platform to develop next-generation ag-biological products. In addition to our majority ownership, LaviBio is partially owned by multinational ag-tech giant Corteva, listed on the new stock exchange, with a $45 million market cap. On August 17, 2022, La Vie Bio announced that ICL, a leading multibillion-dollar New York-listed global minerals and agtech company, was making a $10 million investment into La Vie Bio under a safe agreement. ICL investment and collaboration agreement with La Vie Bio will strongly broaden La Vie Bio's product pipeline. Combining La Vie Bio's ag-biological experience and cutting-edge technology with ITL knowledge of fertilizer and farmers' need will help facilitate the development of new and innovative products for La Vie Bio and the agriculture industry. La Vie Bio's product pipeline now includes its first commercially-launched product, Trevus, a microbiome-based bioinucleant for spring wheat. La Vie Bio won regulatory approval in the USA and commercially launched the product initially in North Dakota in the second quarter of 2022 as a seed treatment to improve yield for spring wheat. In the second quarter of 2022, Labibio fully sold out of Tribus in its initial sales in North Dakota, USA. Now, in the second quarter of 2023, Labibio is targeting the 10 million acre spring wheat market in the USA and expecting significantly increased sales. Our product Tribus potentially contributes an additional three to four bushels per acre via yield improvement compared with industry benchmarks. Looking ahead, we are aiming to broaden sales of Tribus beyond USA and into Canada and European markets. We are also working to expand our level for Tribus to include additional crops such as small grains and oilseed, with potentially increased target market covering approximately 500 million acres. La Vie Bio is continuing to advance its biopesticide program, including biofungicides and bioinsecticides. In October, La Vie Bio submitted the registration package to the United States Environmental Protection Agency for LAV311. Its novel biofungicide product targeting fruit rot and powdery mediums, a final step prior to commercialization, which is targeted for a commercial launch in 2024, assuming all goes well. The initial target market size for LAV311 is over $200 million in the treatment of GRIPS, and there is a potential room to expand the target market to over $800 million once it includes targeting additional fruit and vegetables. In the coming year, we plan to expand the potential addressable market for LAV311 by broadening its applications to additional crop while optimizing the product and manufacturing costs. LAV-Bio, second biofungicide product, LAV321, which also advanced in last year, 2022, has the potential to solve what is becoming Expanding challenge for growers as the traditional chemical used in agriculture against downy mildew are increasingly being banned globally. In the coming year, we are planning additional field trials that will also include additional disease for this product. La Vie Bio's achievement to date demonstrates the power of evogenous technology and its tech engine, MicroBoost AI. it is very much proof of the validity of the Evogen business model. Evogen's second subsidiary is Biomica, focusing on developing microbiome-based therapeutic targeting human health, leveraging Evogen microboost AI. Biomica also had a very successful and active year in 2022. Most recently, on December 21, Biomica announced a $20 million financing round led by a $10 million investment from Shanghai Healthcare Capital, and still subject to Chinese regulatory approval anticipated later this month, and $10 million from Evogen. The deal was done at a post-Mani valuation of $50 million. Following the expected close, Evogen will own 67% of Biomica, and CHC will hold 20%. This external and independent endorsement of Biomica validates our belief in Biomica's long-term potential. Biomica is currently focused on its three proprietary therapeutics product programs. The most advanced program is in immune oncology. Using our computational analysis and predictive capabilities, Biomica identified BMC128, rationally designed live biotherapeutic product consortia. Last June, Biomica began its phase one clinical trial in Israel for BMC128 in the treatment of various types of solid tumors in humans and those its first patient in July. The phase one trial is expected to enroll 12 patients. The phase one trial is designed mainly to evaluate the safety and tolerability of Biomica's BMC-128 in combination with an anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor, Optivo, in those cancer patients. Biomica's goal is to successfully complete the phase one BMC-128 trial in Israel this year. In parallel, Biomica plans to file an IND with the FDA in late 2023 or early 2024 with a view to beginning a phase one B2 trial for BMC128 in the U.S. in the first half of 2024. Biomica's second microbiome therapeutic program is focusing on inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, where the lead candidate is BMC333, a rationally designed, optimized consortia of four live bacterial strains. In several preclinical animal studies, BMC333 was shown to significantly reduce inflammation and tissue damage in targeting GI-related disorders. Biomica intends to start producing the microbes in a quantity that will allow for a Phase I clinical trial in the U.S. in 2024. Biomica's third program is focusing on Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS, where the lead candidate microbiome therapeutics consortia is BMC426. Biomeca has completed the discovery phase of BMC426 and is now into a preclinical phase. The results Biomeca has received from BMC426 in experimental models of IBS are encouraging and we look forward to updating you as this program advances. I want to highlight that Biomica's strong progress is a testament to the technological capabilities of Evogen's MicroBoost AI tech engine. Evogen's third subsidiary is Agplanus, which is developing a next-generation sustainable crop protection product by leveraging computational algorithms and a target-based approach. ActPlanus' goal is to discover and bring to commercial stage new mode of action crop protection products, including herbicide, insecticide, and fungicide, leveraging Evogen's Kempas AI tech engine. Worldwide in agriculture, there is a major problem with herbicide resistance weed flourishing. There has not been a new commercial herbicide with a novel mode of action for over 30 years. ActPlanus is addressing that need and developing new herbicides with novel modes of action, which are much more environmentally friendly than existing products. The crop protection industry is dominant by a few major ag-chemical companies, including Bayer, BSS, Corteva, and Syngenta. These large multinational ag-tech players often look to smaller ag-tech companies, like Agplanus, to develop new small molecule candidates. That is precisely what is happening with ActPlanus now. ActPlanus product pipeline includes its most advanced candidate, APH1, a herbicide with a novel mode of action, which provides a broad spectrum weed control at commercial dose rates. During the past year, ActPlanus successfully worked on expanding the data package for APH1. As a result, Agplanus is seeing a lot of interest in APH1 from major ag tech companies, as well as other products in Agplanus pipeline, in addition to great interest in Agplanus AI-driven computational tools and technological capabilities. Agplanus already works closely with Corteva to develop new mode of action herbicide to target resistant weeds. Under its agreement, Agplanus discovers and optimize the herbicide candidate, and Corteva conducts testing and product development. Corteva receives license to these products subject to Agplanus being paid research fee, milestone, and royalty upon commercialization. The Agplanus-Corteva collaboration has been ongoing since March 2020. From a technological standpoint, in the past year, Avogen and Agplanus have completed two proofs of concepts for two of its major AI computational tools, PointIt and ActiveSearch. PointIt allows the screening of a mega database of over 30 billion small molecules to identify the most promising that bind to the new mode of action target protein. ActiveSearch is an important optimization tool to identify promising purchasable similar molecules to the lead candidate, aiming to increase probability of meeting product criteria. This proof of concept was completed with good results, which we believe will improve ACKplanus' workflow and ongoing pipeline going forward. In the past year, ACKplanus has further leveraged our computational platform to expand its pipeline to include fungicide candidates. ACCLNs have now completed the first stage of computational work for fungicide target selection and are now entering the proof-of-concept stage for these potential targets. We hope in the coming year to further advance the fungicide pipeline and initiate new collaborations with leading global ag companies in this new potential field. Moving on to Evogen's fourth subsidiary, Canonic. It is focused on developing best-in-class medical cannabis products, leveraging Evogen's generator AI tech engine. Despite 2022 being a challenging year for the medical cannabis industry in Israel and worldwide, Canonic's main achievement was the recent successful launch of six new second-generation products in Israel These new products all contain high level of THC above 23%, while maximum percentage of THC legally allowed in Israel is 24.4. Since its launch, we have already seen positive traction for this second-generation product in the Israeli market. These second-generation cannabis products were developed using genetic markers, which Evogen's generator AI, TechEngine, identified. In the meantime, Canonic's main goals for 2023 are to grow second-generation cannabis cells while reducing company expenses. At the same time, as I mentioned, the global cannabis market has become increasingly competitive during the past year, and we don't expect that situation to change in the near term. While we are continuing to support Canonic growth, we have made some recent structural changes to lower expenses, and we are considering various longer-term options. Evogen's fifth subsidiary, Castera, focuses on developing a complete solution to growing castor plants used for production of castor oil on a commercial scale. It utilizes Evogen's generator AI tech engine to develop its unique castor varieties. In previous analyst calls, we have not emphasized Castera's activity But in recent months, we have seen an increase in interest in castor oil as a source for biodiesel in Europe. On January 19, Castera announced signing on an agreement to sell a large quantity of castor seed and provide technical support to a world-leading European energy company to launch its cultivation of castor plant in various countries in Africa. This followed our announcement of Castera's, on November 15, signing of a production and distribution agreement with Titan Castor Farm, a Zambian cultivator and distributor of castor oil. Castera is now gaining strong momentum and attention from others wanting to benefit from growing castor oil for biodiesel. We believe it has the potential to serve as a major value creator for Evogen's shareholders. Additional information about Cotera will be provided by Eyal Ronen, our VP of Business Development, shortly. In summary, the activities of Evogen and its subsidiaries are advancing nicely. During 2022, the external investment in LaviBio and Biomica provide independent validation of the significant value inherent within our subsidiary each one by itself, and testified to the value originally created by Evogen's AI tech engines. With respect to additional fundraising for the subsidiary, we continue to work hard to identify and bring value-adding partners and investors. In parallel, we are pursuing collaborations for both Evogen and its subsidiaries that will inject additional fund for our activities. Our business success in 2022 shows that our hard work in building, investing in, and strengthening our subsidiaries, all of which are leveraging our underlying computational predictive biology tech engines, is the right strategy and is creating value which we expect will ultimately be reflected in Avogen shareholders' value. Our main target is that each subsidiary will have its own financial resources to support its activity until its success. While it's Evogen, in addition to being a major shareholder, we will continue to play a major role in maintaining and building our tech engine, serving as the subsidiary's competitive advantage. We hope to announce many, many more success in the coming quarters. And now, I would like to turn over this call to Eyal Ronen, our VP Business Development and CEO of Castera, after which Evogen's CFO, Yaron Eldad, will provide a financial review for Evogen. Yael?

Thank you, Ofer. First, I would like to start by saying how excited I am to have joined the Evogen group and I am very pleased to take part in this call. Prior to my review of Castera's activity and recent achievements, I would like to emphasize Castera's offering to our plant's future. The increased use of fossil fuel with high carbon footprint in the Western world significantly contributes to long-term global warming, ultimately leading to harsher weather conditions and increasing the risk to human sustainability. Furthermore, the significant growth in emerging economies leading to increases in demand for energy will also pose increased challenges. Biofuels and biopolymers are part of the solution, helping to reduce the carbon footprint by reduced greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the growing needs for sustainable renewable energy and polymers. Castera is a subsidiary of Evergen, and as mentioned by Offer, it focuses on developing a complete solution to growing castor on commercial scale. The company was established in 2008, initially by the name Everfuel, which later changed to Castera, to reflect the focus on the promising crop of castor as a veggie source for bio-based materials, whether for biofuels or biopolymers. As the world looks to replace fossil fuel with biological friendly and sustainable source, we foresee an increase in the markets for castor oil. Castor beans represent the highest energy return to growers as they have high oil content, approximately 50%, can grow on marginal lands, meaning that they pose no competition on land which can support other edible crops and support environmentally friendly cultivation practices. From a regulation perspective, the crop aligns with the recent EU regulations supporting replacement of palm oil to low indirect land use change or ILUC crops such as castor. Castor oil and its derivatives are estimated at $1.36 billion market worldwide today and expected to reach $1.61 billion by 2028 based on MarketWatch report from February 2023. Castera's competitive advantage is that it provides an end-to-end industrialized solution for cultivating high-yield castor oil. Castera's solution is tailored to optimize all parts of the process from seed to grains. The key source for value of Castera is its ability to develop proprietary and vastly superior castor seed varieties using Evergen's plant genomic applicative capabilities, broad genetic library, and generator AI tech engine. Castera has built its Castor genetic library asset based on a broad collection of over 300 Castor lines from 40 different geographic and climatic regions. In addition to the above, Castera has many years of unparalleled experience with cultivation practices given as technical support. To promise high yield with minimal losses, Castera has developed a Castor bin specific mechanical harvesting machine in collaboration with Italian specialty machine making Fantini. In addition, the company developed a proprietary high-capacity de-hulling machine. You are welcome to visit Castera's site for additional details. In the past few months, Castera has extended its production capabilities to meet the market demand in different geographies and today produces its seeds in three countries, Israel, Brazil and Zambia. In the biopolymer space, Castera works closely with market leaders and explores new territories to support high-quality and stable supply to the growing castor oil-derived biopolymers industry. And finally, the most important development was the recent agreement for sale of large amounts of castor seeds and providing technical support to European Oil Major to launch its cultivation of castor in Africa. As we build a close business relationship with this key customer and others, I expect our business to grow and to receive additional orders. for seats and equipment. I look forward for sharing more information with you in the coming quarters. That ends my summary and Yaron Eldad will now provide the financial update. Yaron?