Benson Hill, to become publicly listed through a business combination with Star Peak Corp II.

Benson Hill, Inc., a food technology company unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants, has announced that it will become publicly listed through a business combination with Star Peak Corp II. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will be named Benson Hill, Inc. and is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol “BHIL”. Matt Crisp, Chief Executive Officer of Benson Hill, will lead the combined company.

Transaction will provide up to $625 million in gross proceeds, comprised of Star Peak’s $403 million of cash in trust, assuming no redemptions, and an oversubscribed and upsized $225 million common stock PIPE at $10.00 per share, including investments from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Van Eck Associates Corporation, Hedosophia, Lazard Asset Management, Post Holdings, existing Benson Hill investors and affiliates of Star Peak Corp II.

Transaction supports Benson Hill’s continued rapid growth in the forecasted $140 billion plant-based meat segment and broader $5 trillion agri-food industry, offering a pure-play ESG investment opportunity tied to improving human health and driving decarbonization.

Innovative plant-to-plate business model 

Benson Hill’s proprietary CropOS technology platform uses predictive analytics to simulate tens of millions of genetic outcomes for plants, referencing an ever-expanding and unmatched data library. Benson Hill’s approach is tailored to meet consumer demand and link the interests of both growers and consumers, which has been a historical divide in the food system.

With CropOS, Benson Hill is working to:

• Leverage the vast natural genetic diversity within plants to simultaneously optimize for quality traits such as nutrition and flavor profiles, as well as yield;
• Improve sustainability through plant breeding innovations that can use fewer resources, including displacing the need for certain expensive water- and energy-intensive ingredient processing steps typically required to produce protein-rich ingredients used in plant-based meat alternatives; and
• Increase access to healthier foods capable of delivering more nutrients that consumers are demanding while offering cleaner labels for food companies and retailers.

Benson Hill deploys an innovative go-to-market approach that significantly reduces technological and product risk.