Strain and technology licensing

You manufacture.
We license.

Non-GMO microalgae strains, matched with the cultivation and downstream processes that make them work at scale. Exclusive rights in your field of use, full technical transfer, and support until the process runs in your plant.

Request the licensing dossier
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Be part of the shift to future nutrition:

Vegan protein, pigments (beta-carotene, astaxanthin, fucoxanthin), beta-glucans, and omega-3 lipids are in real demand. The market isn’t waiting on interest. It’s waiting on supply that scales without sacrificing quality.

We license the strain and the process together, matched to the cultivation route that fits your operation, heterotrophic fermentation in a stirred tank, or phototrophic cultivation.

Already growing microalgae and looking to scale further, or move into fermentation? Running fermentation capacity, a food brand, or a CDMO looking to add algal ingredients? Either way: you manufacture, we make sure it works.

What we license

Three things, transferred as one package

Proprietary strains

Non-GMO strains selected and adapted in-house for heterotrophic growth or photoautotrophic cultivation, screened for productivity, target compound content and robustness under industrial conditions.
  • Defined master cell bank
  • Full characterisation package
  • No genetic modification

Fermentation, photoautotrophic and downstream processes

The process that makes the strain economic, whether it runs heterotrophically in stirred-tank fermenters or photoautotrophically in light-driven systems: media formulation, including formulations built on agro-industrial side streams, feeding and control strategy, harvest and downstream route.
  • SOPs and analytical methods
  • Scale-up parameters
  • Substrate cost optimisation

The rights that come with it

Exclusive use within a defined field of use and territory for the term of the agreement, with the freedom to produce wherever it suits you.
  • Exclusivity by field and territory
  • Your plant or your chosen CDMO
  • No tied purchase of inoculum or media
Who this is for

For anyone who wants microalgae in the food of the next decade

Microalgae producers

Lift productivity, cut cost per kilogram, or add a fermentation line beside existing photoautotrophic capacity, and move from commodity biomass into ingredients with a specification behind them.

Food and beverage manufacturers

Put a credible microalgae protein or functional ingredient into a mainstream product, at an inclusion level and a colour a shopper will actually accept.

Supplement, nutraceutical and pet nutrition brands

Own a differentiated non-GMO ingredient, produced under your own or contracted capacity, with compound content set against the claims you want to make.

Fermentation manufacturers and CDMOs

Put idle or underused tank capacity to work on higher value products, and build the algal biomass offering your clients are already asking for.
Strain catalogue

A catalogue to start from, not a limit to work within

Our catalogue strains are available for licensing now, with commercial specification set jointly with the licensee. They include non-GMO Chlorella sp. in green, yellow and white variants, and they sit outside the scope of the EU Novel Food Regulation.

The catalogue is a starting point. We work across microalgae more broadly, including Haematococcus pluvialis for astaxanthin, Porphyridium purpureum for sulphated exopolysaccharides, and Euglena and Scenedesmus, and we work on strains you already hold. In practice we can take almost any microalgal strain and improve what matters to you: productivity, protein or pigment content, nutrient profile, growth rate, or tolerance to your process conditions.

Regulatory status varies by species and we establish it during scoping. Identities and process detail under NDA, with fields of use, territories and exclusivity negotiable.

Six agar plates of colour-variant Chlorella strains, from dark green through light green, yellow and orange to near-white

From first call to production

01
Scoping call and NDA
We establish your target strain, volume, market and existing capacity. Fifteen minutes usually tells us whether there is a fit.
02
Technical dossier and term sheet
You receive strain and process data for the relevant platform, together with indicative commercial terms.
03
Feasibility or pilot run
Usually the right step. A defined trial validates the process in your equipment, or at a CDMO, before either side commits to a full licence.
04
Licence agreement
Field of use, territory, exclusivity, upfront technology access fee and a running royalty.
05
Technology transfer and support
Master cell bank, SOPs, analytical methods, commissioning support on site or remote, and continued process optimisation under the agreement.
Heterotrophic microalgae cultures in shake flasks alongside strain isolates on agar plates during PhycoFerm strain development
How a license works
Commercial framework

How the deal is usually shaped

Licences are built around an upfront technology access fee plus a running royalty linked to production volume or net sales, scaled to the field of use, the territory and the degree of exclusivity granted. Where a strain or process needs development before it fits your specification, that work is quoted separately as a fixed-fee project, and what you pay for it is deducted from the upfront licence fee.

We deliberately do not publish rates. Terms are set against the value the technology creates in your specific application, and that conversation is better had properly.
Start the conversation
  • Upfront technology access fee
  • Running royalty on volume or net sales
  • Exclusivity by field of use and territory
  • Optional development phase, deducted from the upfront fee
PhycoFerm scientists developing microalgae strains in a laminar flow cabinet

Validation

How far each platform has actually been taken

Our platforms sit at different stages, from laboratory validation through to industrial production with a licensee. We state the current stage of each platform openly in the technical dossier, and we do not present development-stage results as commercial performance. Where a route has not yet been run at your intended volume, a feasibility or pilot campaign is the normal next step rather than a leap of faith.

Laboratory validation

Strain performance and process parameters established in controlled bioreactors, with the data package that goes with them.

Pilot demonstration

Run at pilot volume with public laboratory and CDMO partners, so titre and consistency are proven outside our own equipment.

Industrial production

Running in a licensee’s plant. Our first strain is licensed and in production under a signed agreement.

Validated with

  • LNEG
  • University of the Algarve
  • CRIA
  • MED
  • CIMA
  • IST-ID
  • CDMO partners
Questions we are usually asked

Before you get in touch

No. Every strain in our portfolio is non-GMO, developed through selection, adaptation and non-recombinant improvement. This is a deliberate strategic choice, not a limitation we work around.

Our platforms sit at different stages, from laboratory validation through to industrial production with a licensee. We state the current stage of each platform openly in the technical dossier, and we do not present development-stage results as commercial performance.

Usually what you already have. The processes are designed for conventional stirred-tank fermentation and standard downstream unit operations, or for light-driven systems where the route is photoautotrophic, so there is no proprietary hardware to buy.

More usefully: we will tell you. Part of scoping is going through your existing equipment list with you and saying plainly what will work as it is, what needs a modification, and what is genuinely missing. If a piece of kit is needed we will say so early, and we will help you specify it rather than leaving you to guess.

Case dependent. Depending on the strain and the process, protection rests on some combination of patents, proprietary know-how and trade secrets, and the balance differs from platform to platform. We set out which applies to the technology you are licensing during scoping, before anything is signed, so you know exactly what you are getting rights to and on what basis.

Yes, by field of use and territory, and for the term of the agreement. The degree of exclusivity is one of the levers that sets the commercial terms, so it is agreed case by case rather than offered as a standard package.

Usually not, because we normally work with strains that carry no novel food barrier. Our catalogue Chlorella strains, for example, sit outside the scope of the EU Novel Food Regulation, so the regulatory route is well trodden rather than exploratory.

Where a target compound or a less common species does raise a question, we establish the position during scoping and tell you before you commit, rather than discovering it later. Placing the finished product on the market remains the licensee’s responsibility, and we support the technical dossier that sits behind it.

Tell us which organism you want to work with

Start with the strain or the organism: one from our catalogue, one you already hold, or a species you believe fits your application. Composition, target compounds and volume come next. Send us the first and we will tell you within a week whether we have a platform that fits, or whether it is a development project.
info@phycoferm.com

PhycoFerm Lda., Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro, Portugal

Not the right route?

You want to buy the ingredient, not make it. Non-GMO Chlorella without the green colour or the algal taste, and sulphated exopolysaccharides for skin care. Go to ingredients

You have a target we have not developed yet. Fixed fee, fixed timeline, full technical handover, and you walk away owning complete commercial rights to what we deliver. No royalties, no strings attached. Go to services