14 December 2020, Saskatoon, Canada:MustGrow Biologics Corp. (CSE: MGRO) (OTC: MGROF) (FRA: 0C0) (the “Company“, “MustGrow“) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. David M. Borecky, Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of Impossible Foods to its Board of Directors. David will leverage his extensive global relationships in the plant-based innovation community to accelerate and raise awareness of MustGrow’s remarkably safe and effective plant-based crop protection technologies.
MustGrow has harnessed the mustard seed’s natural defense mechanism to control diseases, pests, and weeds with a natural organic food-grade biopesticide.
David’s executive experience with Impossible Foods, an industry-leading food-tech company, is invaluable to MustGrow’s shared mission to provide a natural and environmentally-sustainable food supply. MustGrow, with its plant-based organic biopesticide technology, envisions disrupting global agriculture markets that have traditionally been dominated by potentially dangerous synthetic chemicals.
“MustGrow’s innovative approach to plant-based biological solutions has the potential to dramatically change the way we protect future food supplies in an environmentally-sustainable way. I’m excited to join their mission and work with the leadership team to accelerate and extend the global impact of their technology,” remarked David.
“David’s strong connections within the Silicon Valley and plant-based culture communities will prove instrumental in our development of plant-based biopesticides for a sustainable food supply,” remarked MustGrow Chairman Brad Munro. “A director of David’s calibre is an exciting addition to the MustGrow team, particularly his prowess in large global corporate M&A transactions.”
David is currently Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer at Impossible Foods Inc. where he oversees the company’s financial reporting, corporate accounting, global financial and procurement operations, and internal controls function.
David was previously Controller at financial technology infrastructure provider, Stripe Inc., where he scaled and managed various accounting, finance, and treasury functions from 2016 to 2019. From 2014 through 2016, David held senior management positions at mobile payments and point of sale solution provider, Square Inc. (NYSE:SQ), where he built global finance and accounting operations and worked alongside executives to successfully lead Square’s IPO registration process. He also drove corporate development initiatives where he was responsible for sourcing, executing, and integrating strategic acquisitions. Prior to Square, David held leadership roles in treasury and finance at OpenText Corp. (NASDAQ/TSX:OTEX), a global leader in enterprise information management and Canada’s largest publicly traded software company.
David holds an honors degree in business from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Masters degree from Schulich School of Business at York University. He is a Canadian Chartered Accountant, a U.S. Certified Public Accountant, and also holds the CIM, PFP, and CF designations.
Plant-Based Biopesticides
The interest in biopesticides is increasing as farmers, consumers and investors seek ‘natural biological’ alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides. Adverse global climate and weather events are expected to negatively impact food supply for a growing human population. Warmer temperatures are expected to increase pest infestations and with more pests there will be more damage to crops. Safe and effective biopesticides will be critical for future food security and environmentally sustainable agriculture.
Widely-used synthetic chemicals continue to be banned or deregistered globally. The U.S. EPA promotes and encourages the use of safer pesticides, requiring much less data to register a biopesticide. The European Commission is seeking to halve the use of chemical pesticides by 2030. Leading agriculture companies have recently established venture capital programs to fund, partner or acquire early-stage technologies focused on biopesticide & bioherbicide crop protection. Research firm Markets and Markets sees the global biopesticide market size doubling to US$8.5 billion by 2025.
In connection with this appointment MustGrow has issued 250,000 common share options (each an “Option”) of the Company. Each Option shall entitle the holder to acquire one common share of the Company at a price per common share to be determined according to CSE pricing policy exercisable for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance. All Options and underlying shares are subject to a four month hold period from the date of issuance. The issuance of the Options is subject to the final approval of the CSE.
