Israeli biotech start-up Brevel and Indian conglomerate The Wave Group are building a 300,000-litre "illuminated fermentation" factory in Uttar Pradesh to make microalgae ingredients, Green Queen reports. The 50/50 joint venture plant, funded by The Wave Group, will cost $10-15 million in total; construction starts later this year and production is expected within 18 months.
Conventional fermentation grows microalgae cheaply in the dark but misses the nutrients that depend on light. Brevel's patented process combines sugar fermentation with light in indoor bioreactors, so a strain from the Chlorella family, already accepted as safe to eat in the US and EU, can produce chlorophyll, carotenoids and other compounds without genetic modification.
The first product will be Purallis, a deep-green powder rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and chlorophyll for food, drinks and supplements. The plant will also serve companies making ingredients by plant cell culture. Brevel will feed its bioreactors with sidestreams from The Wave Group's nearby sugar mills, and early trials with the mills' by-products have given "excellent" results, the companies say.
"Brevel's illuminated fermentation, combined with our deep expertise in sugar manufacturing, defines a new era in biomanufacturing," said The Wave Group chairman Manpreet Singh Chadha. Brevel chief executive Yonatan Golan, who founded the firm with his brothers Ido and Matan in 2017, said the deal brings the process to industrial scale.
Brevel opened a 27,000 sq ft factory in southern Israel in 2024 with fermenters of 50, 500 and 5,000 litres that produce hundreds of tonnes a year. It raised a $5 million seed extension in early 2025 and works with partners including US plant cell company Ayana Bio. For Indian sugar mills, the plant offers a new use for their by-products.
Photo: NEON_ja / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Green Queen
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