Microalgae to mainstream: Brevel’s US$18.5M funding poised to elevate “ultimate source of sustainable protein”

26 Jul 2023 --- Brevel, a microalgae-focused alt-protein company, has netted US$18.5 million in a funding round to develop an alternative neutral-tasting, functional, highly sustainable, affordable alternative protein to the mainstream food industry. The first products incorporating the company’s protein will be on shelves in 2024.

Market barriers 
Speaking to Food Ingredients First, Yonatan Golan, CEO and co-founder of Brevel, says the current alternative protein market has many challenges regarding cost, flavor, functionality, quality and sustainability. 

“Microalgae are the ultimate source of protein in terms of sustainability, but unfortunately, the existing options for microalgae as an alternative protein have very high costs and taste barriers. Brevel’s solution for microalgae-based protein has managed to solve these challenges,” he stresses. 

Brevel’s protein can be seamlessly incorporated, significantly boosting nutritional value and enhancing texture without compromising taste, color or cost.Brevel claims its technology is the first globally to combine sugar-based microalgae fermentation with a high concentration of light at industrial scales. The result is a tasty protein that will be price competitive with pea and soy. 

Brevel’s protein solves immediate challenges in plant-based dairy and egg products that lack a valuable nutritional profile due to the need for very mildly flavored protein sources, notes Golan, which makes it very suitable for food applications where flavor masking is not an option.

“These food applications don’t have suitable solutions today at affordable costs. The leading protein sources (soy and pea) have very strong flavors, are allergenic and suffer from negative market perception and thus cannot be good solutions. Further – Brevel’s protein has a full amino acid profile and high digestibility scores. Of course, microalgae in Brevel’s systems don’t need any pesticides or herbicides, no chemical runaways, etc.”

“Due to the high nutritional values and sustainable production in the mid and long term, we are aiming to become the number one choice for plant-based protein worldwide.”

Golan believes the future of food lies in microorganisms. “It is not only the moral solution in taking animals out of our food chain and not only the sustainable solution as microorganisms are far more efficient in terms of land, water, energy, GHG emissions and more, but microorganisms will very soon be cheaper and more accessible than any other plant-based source.”

The funding round was led by NevaTeam Partners and supported by the European Union’s EIC Fund, as well as other food and climate funds and strategic partners from within the food industry. 

Scaling protein 
The company is also scaling its manufacturing capacity with the “first-of-its-kind” commercial factory in Israel and is preparing to construct an additional much larger facility with a total capacity of 900,000L planned for 2026 with a JV partner,” Golan tells us. 

Brevel is piloting with various food manufacturers worldwide to develop plant-based food applications with Brevel’s protein. 

“The funding will allow us to scale our solution, which is the next stage in our success,” outlines Golan. “Brevel is primarily targeting the dairy alternative sector, which faces a significant challenge in protein content. Other plant-based protein sources, such as soy, are allergenic and often have overpowering flavors, making them less efficient for plant-based milk and cheese products.”

Tapping into sustainable plant-based sources
The company primarily targets the dairy alternative sector, which faces a significant challenge in protein content.

In terms of sustainability, Golan believes that “microalgae are by far the most sustainable source of protein on this planet.”

Compared to soy, the leading plant-based protein today, he says microalgae are 99.95% more efficient in terms of land, 67% more efficient in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and 55% more efficient in water usage.Brevel’s technology combines sugar-based microalgae fermentation with high light concentrations at industrial scales.

“To produce one ton of protein from beef, you need the equivalent of 230 football fields vs. five for a ton of soy protein. For comparison, a ton of microalgae protein would require only a fraction of that at less than one basketball court.”

Today, microalgae are produced by photosynthesis in outdoor (or indoor) ponds or closed reactors, which are very labor intensive, suffer from contaminations and produce at low yields and high costs. The alternative is to use fermentation tanks where sugar is added to the process and then the microalgae grow and significantly lower prices and higher yields. 

However, this is done today in the dark, and in the absence of light many of the ingredients, functionalities and benefits of microalgae need to be recovered in the process.

He comments that microalgae among microorganisms (mycelium, yeast, bacteria and microalgae) are yet more resource efficient and will be a significant part of our future nutrition. 

“This funding round will fuel our journey forward and pave the way for our vision of sustainable nutrition for the future of our planet to materialize,” adds Golan.

“Having followed Brevel’s impressive developments and achievements in recent years, we believe that Brevel will be one of the leading companies in the global alternative protein industry, and we are excited to join their journey toward that goal,” comments Shai Levy, managing partner at NevaTeam Partners, who will also be joining Brevel’s board. 

“We believe that Brevel’s innovative technology enables the cost-efficient production of high-quality protein extracted from microalgae, which is crucial for the future of sustainable food production.”

Brevel’s seed funding totals US$18.5 million, including US$8.4 million converted from grants and convertible loans into shares.

By Elizabeth Green