DGAP-News: The Social Chain AG: Social Chain AG acquires Clasen Bio and consolidates its food subsidiaries in the new Food Chain GmbH

Media Release

Social Chain AG acquires Clasen Bio and consolidates its food subsidiaries in the new Food Chain GmbH

• Clasen Bio is an established brand for nuts, snacks and dried fruits
• Revenue performance of the new Food Chain GmbH: EUR 70m in 2020 / EUR 100m in 2021 / EUR 140m in 2022
• Social Chain AG lifts revenue forecast for 2020 by 15 percent to EUR 230 million
• Wanja S. Oberhof: "Food communities and food brands will be a key growth segment for Social Chain AG."

Berlin, 17 November 2020. Expanding into the future market of organic food: Social Chain AG (WKN: A1YC99) acquires Carl Wilhelm Clasen GmbH with its Clasen Bio brand and LGR Nuss & Trockenfrucht Veredlungs GmbH & Co KG. Clasen Bio, together with the other food brands of Social Chain, will be integrated into the new Food Chain GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Social Chain AG. Other subsidiaries of Food Chain GmbH are KoRo (57% share), 3Bears (15%) and VYTAL (12.5%). Revenue performance of Food Chain is focused on strong growth: In 2020 revenue is EUR 70 million (pro forma consolidated). An increase to EUR 100 million is expected in 2021. In the 2022 financial year, revenues are expected to increase to around EUR 140 million.

Following the acquisition of Clasen Bio, Social Chain AG is raising its revenue forecast for 2020 by 15 percent to EUR 230 million.

Wanja S. Oberhof, CEO of Social Chain AG: "Food communities and food brands will be a key growth segment for Social Chain AG. With its organic and Demeter products Clasen Bio meets a sustainable consumer trend towards healthy food. With our social media expertise we can provide Clasen Bio with new and efficient marketing and sales opportunities."

Thomas Bönsch, Managing Director at Clasen Bio: "Social Chain is the ideal partner for our company. Social Chain AG's outstanding social media knowledge is the strategic lever to develop Clasen Bio into a modern direct-to-consumer brand. For Clasen Bio this means a quantum leap in terms of marketing and sales".

Clasen Bio currently sells its products primarily through food retailers. The company also uses e-commerce platforms and its own online shop for direct sales to end customers. Focus lies on the Clasen Bio brand with currently around 85 products in eight categories: nuts, dried fruits, snacks, seeds, cereals, pulses, powders and specialty flours. Since December 2019 Clasen Bio has also been Demeter-certified and now offers a range of 15 products under this prestigious eco-label.

Food Chain: Own brands and food communities with focus on direct sales to end customers

Besides Clasen Bio the new Food Chain GmbH is home to three more brands:
KoRo, 3Bears and VYTAL.
KoRo operates its own food online shops in seven European countries (koro-drogerie.de). The company focuses on high-quality products in bulk packaging with resulting cost savings for end customers. KoRo uses social media almost exclusively for marketing and is therefore one of the pioneers of social commerce in the food sector. Only recently, the Social Chain increased its shareholding in KoRo to 57 percent (media release from 13 November 2020).
3Bears produces and distributes innovative porridge products from oats, made from only natural ingredients and superfoods (3bears.de). 3Bears has established itself over the past two years as a well-known and popular brand that can be found both online and on many supermarket shelves.
VYTAL is an innovative digital reusable system for the collection and delivery of meals and convenience food (vytal.org). As a platform provider, the start-up VYTAL already has more than 400 partners across Germany - mainly restaurants, canteens and delivery services - and recently started an app that allows users to order food conveniently and contact-free without waste. VYTAL became known in the latest season of "Die Höhle der Löwen" (the equivalent to the UK's "Dragons' Den") and has been growing rapidly ever since.

Social Chain AG will support its subsidiary Food Chain with its extensive social media expertise. The focus is on direct marketing of products to end customers. In doing so, it can also rely on existing reach. The Social Chain community "Love Food" has 6.7 million followers on Instagram and 3.1 million fans on Facebook. This makes "Love Food" one of the most successful food communities of a social publisher worldwide.

Wanja S. Oberhof: "The new Food Chain ensures impact and transparency in an important product segment of Social Chain. We see a multitude of cooperation opportunities and synergy effects between the brands within Food Chain, from production and logistics to marketing, sales and internationalisation processes. Through further acquisitions, we will also strengthen our position as a modern social media brand owner in the food market of the future. Food Chain is a prime example of our strategy of combining e-commerce and social media. Our integrated knowledge of social media and social commerce is the most important factor for driving the organic growth of our own brands efficiently and dynamically."

Contact:
Jana Walker | Senior Corporate & Brand PR Manager | E: [email protected] |

About The Social Chain AG
The first integrated social media company The Social Chain AG combines social media and social
commerce. Social Chain is a pioneer in the creation, development and scaling of social media
brands. The company's headquarters are in Berlin with offices in Manchester, London, New York
and Munich. The company has a total of around 500 employees. The Social Chain AG shares are
traded on XETRA and several German stock exchanges.

The content of this press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or other recommendations pursuant to the German Securities Trading Act by The Social Chain AG or its affiliated companies. The information provided cannot replace investment advice.
The information contained in this press release is not to be construed as an assurance of possible price developments and should not be construed as a request to enter into a transaction. The information contained herein does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell securities or rights, or a solicitation to trade in securities or rights.
Accordingly, The Social Chain AG and its affiliates make no representations or commitments as to the
accuracy, completeness or correctness of the information or opinions contained herein. We assume no liability for direct or indirect damages caused by and/or in connection with the distribution and/or use of this
document. The statements correspond to the status at the time of the preparation of this document. They may become obsolete due to future developments without the document being changed.