MEDIA RELEASE
Appointment of Experienced Beverage and Marketing Executives to the PERKii Board of Directors
Brisbane, Australia, March 13 2017: Uniseed investee company PERKii Pty Ltd, is pleased to announce the appointment of three new Directors with significant and relevant experience in leading international companies. PERKii has released the world’s first water and juice drink with 1 billion microencapsulated probiotics and only 26 calories. These appointments follow the recent appointment in November 2016 of Matthew Kowal (formerly with Red Bull and Monster Energy in Europe) as Chief Executive Officer of PERKii. The new Directors include Geoff Cockerill (formerly with Diageo and Lion Beer and Cider), Adrian Popek (formerly with Nudie) and Sarah Jones (formerly with Sanofi).
Geoff Cockerill has extensive executive experience working for market leading beverage companies Diageo and Lion and driven the performance of local and international brands such Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Corona and XXXX. His most recent position was CEO of Queensland Cricket and the Brisbane Heat franchise.
Adrian Popek was previously the International Business Manager of Nudie Foods, and is currently the Managing Director of Wonder Communications; one of Australia’s leading Creative Agencies.
Sarah Jones brings to the board a diverse set of skills coming from years of innovation and marketing experience working for companies such as Sanofi and more recently as the Innovation and Marketing Specialist at Raw Innovation Pty Ltd.
Uniseed Chief Executive Officer and PERKii Chairman, Peter Devine, said “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Geoff, Adrian and Sarah to the PERKii Board of Directors. Their diverse and extensive experience will complement our CEO Matt Kowal and help drive the growth of this exciting new probiotic drink.”
About PERKii
PERKii™ is a new start-up company from the University of Queensland and has released the world’s first water and juice drink with 1 billion microencapsulated probiotics and only 26 calories! Perkii offers consumers an option to control weight, improve gut health and boost immunity with 1 Billion live Lactobacillus casei with proven health benefits in a refreshing, light and great tasting low calorie drink. Derived from the ProGel technology, also invented at the University of Queensland, this drink protects and improves probiotic stability by encapsulating them in tiny natural beads called Microgels. Microgels keep the probiotics alive in drinks and the acidic stomach resulting in improved health benefit for consumers. PERKii comes in 5 delicious flavours, Raspberry & Pomegranate, Elderflower & Green Tea, Lime & Coconut, Strawberry & Watermelon and Mango & Passionfruit. For more information, go to www.perkii.com.au.
In March 2016, Uniseed alongside a number of high net – worth investors including those represented by the Brisbane Angels and Melbourne Angels Group’s, raised a total of $4 million in capital for PERKii Pty Ltd.
About Uniseed
Uniseed is a venture fund operating at the Universities of Melbourne, Queensland, New South Wales and Sydney, as well as the CSIRO. Uniseed’s mandate is to facilitate the commercialisation of research partner generated intellectual property by targeted investment in highly promising technologies. Uniseed’s investments cover a range of technology sectors. To date, the fund has exited four investments through trade sales; a drug to treat nerve pain (Spinifex Pharmaceuticals acquisition by Novartis for US$200M up‐front plus milestone payments); a drug in development to treat fibrosis (Fibrotech Therapeutics sale to Shire plc for US$75M up‐front plus milestone payments), an IT security technology (Vintela sale to Quest Software Inc. for US$75M) and a semi‐ conductor technology (Fultec sale to Bourns Semiconductor Inc) and one investment (Hatchtech) through an asset sale to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories in a deal worth $200M. A number of companies in Uniseed’s investment portfolio have products on the market, including Hydrexia, BT Imaging and Smart Sparrow), while other companies are collaborating with leading global companies in their respective fields (Nexgen Plants, Q‐Sera, TenasiTech). For more information, go to www.uniseed.com.
For further information:
Peter Devine
Uniseed CEO & PERKii Chairman
0409 631 581
Matthew Kowal
PERKii CEO
0403 789 793