For investors
A platform company, not a single product.
We develop non-GMO microalgae strains and the fermentation processes that make them work at industrial scale. The strains and processes are the asset, and they can be licensed, developed under contract, or turned into ingredients. Three routes to revenue from one research engine.
Founded in Faro, Portugal, out of the European microalgae research ecosystem
Public innovation funding secured to date, without dilution
Proprietary strains developed in-house, and counting
Heads of agreement signed with an industrial partner
The thesis
Microalgae have the demand problem solved and the supply problem unsolved. Whoever fixes cost per kilogram and batch consistency owns the category.
Demand for algal protein, pigments, beta-glucans and omega-3 lipids is real and growing. Supply is the bottleneck. Phototrophic cultivation is land and light limited, quality drifts with the season, and capital cost per tonne stays high, which is why most microalgae ingredients still price themselves out of the applications that would use them at volume.
We work on the supply side. Closed heterotrophic fermentation, strains adapted to perform in a stirred tank, growth media built from agro-industrial side streams, and real-time process monitoring. The output is not a single ingredient but a production system that can be pointed at more than one compound.
How the platform earns
Three routes to revenue, one research engine
Technology licensing
Strain and process, transferred as one package
An upfront technology access fee plus a running royalty on volume or net sales. The licensee manufactures in their own plant or through a CDMO, which keeps our capital requirement low. Sold to microalgae producers, fermentation manufacturers and ingredient companies.
Development services
Fixed fee, fixed timeline, full handover
A defined development project against a customer specification, quoted as a fixed fee with complete commercial rights transferring on completion. Generates early revenue, and where a project ends in a platform the customer would rather license, the fee paid is credited against the licence.
Ingredient supply
Selected products, produced through partners
Protein-rich Chlorella and astaxanthin-rich Haematococcus biomass produced with CDMO partners. Deliberately narrow. These products serve as commercial revenue and as market validation for the platform behind them.
Where we are
What has been built so far
Founded in Faro, Portugal, 2024
A founding team drawn from the European microalgae research and innovation ecosystem, having met through research institutions, industrial production facilities and international projects.
Bioprocess laboratory established
Our own laboratory at CRIA, University of the Algarve, with infrastructure and scientific collaboration through MED and CIMA.
€1.8M in public innovation funding secured
From national and European innovation programmes, which has funded platform development without dilution.
First licensing agreement signed
Heads of agreement with an industrial partner for the licensing of a proprietary strain, which validates the licensing route commercially.
What comes next
- Expand the bioprocess laboratory capability
- Complete pilot-scale validation of the lead routes
- Convert the first commercial licensing and supply agreements
Being straight with you
What has to go right
Scale-up has to hold
Titre and consistency that work in a bioreactor do not automatically survive pilot and industrial volume. This is the main technical risk and it is why every route is staged through pilot validation before we commit to it.
Licensing cycles are long
Industrial partners move on their own timescale, and a heads of agreement is not a signed licence. We manage this by running development services in parallel, which shortens the path to revenue.
Cost per kilogram is the real competitor
We are not competing with other microalgae companies so much as with the price of the ingredient a customer already buys. Substrate cost and productivity have to keep improving.
Ask us for the materials
Send a note and we will share the current deck and business plan and set up a call with the founders. We do not publish round terms here, and we would rather talk them through properly.
PhycoFerm Lda., Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Pavilhao B1, Faro, Portugal