Brevel, a microalgae-based alt-protein company, has announced that it has completed a seed funding round of $18.5 million.

The company said that funding will be used to bring to market a neutral-tasting, functional protein that is highly sustainable and affordable to the mainstream food industry. The 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.

According to Brevel, its technology is the world’s first to combine sugar-based fermentation of microalgae with high light concentrations at industrial scales to produce a protein that could be incorporated by manufacturers into plant-based products.

Brevel has been operating its large-scale 500-litre pilot in Israel and soon plans to move into its first commercial-scale factory with a 5000-litre fermentation and light system. The company has designed and built all of its own manufacturing systems, as well as the development of all biological processes.

Primarily, the company aims to solve protein content challenges within the alt-dairy sector. Where other plant-based sources such as soy are allergenic and often have overpowering flavours, Brevel aims to fulfil the need for a protein that can be seamlessly incorporated into plant-based milk and cheese products to boost nutritional value and enhance texture without compromising on taste, colour or cost.

Brevel said it is achieving cost parity with traditional plant-based protein sources such as pea or soy by utilising its technology to generate valuable co-products alongside the high concentration of functional protein from microalgae, such as functional lipids and pigments. The company reported that this enables it to almost triple the profitability from the same microalgae, making it feasible to price the protein competitively in the market.

Yonatan Golan, CEO and co-founder of Brevel, said: “This substantial funding round will fuel Brevel’s journey forward and pave the way for our vision of sustainable nutrition for the future of our planet to materialise”.

He added: “We are primed and ready for our next major leap – the global scale production of Brevel’s protein that will be integrated into healthier, tastier and environmentally-friendly food products in every household”.

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