Israeli Start-up Yemoja Designs Customized Microalgae

Israeli start-up Yemoja has revealed that it has created a next-generation terrace for cultivating customised, pharmaceutical grade microalgae on request for use in nutraceuticals.

Yemoja employs a high-level exactness to facilitates photobioreactor technology, thus will create specific microalgae as ‘natural vegan ingredients’ that can be classified into food supplements.

The marine ingredients start-up firm disclosed that it is moving into the round B funding after it has raised $4 million in seed funds and investments from the Israel Innovation Authority.

Yemoja was founded three years ago by a team of marine biology and biotech experts. This start-up intends to provide the market with a variety of high-value microalgae species that can be transformed into a full spectrum of applications including cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals.

Speaking on the achievement of the start-up firm, Yemoja has developed an indoor closed cultivation system that is contaminant-free and maintains absolute control of temperature, pH, light and CO2 emissions.

The cultivation system is used as a measure for the concurrent growth of multiple species in a very tightly controlled environment, as well as the consistent supply of the ingredients.

With the use of the cultivation methodology, Yemoja claims to have overwhelmed many industry challenges including composition homogeneity, scalability, and contamination proofing and ensures clean, safe microalgae throughout the process.

According to the CEO of Yemoja, Eyal Shalmon, there is a vast ocean of microalgae species not yet discovered, and only a dozen or so are commercially available.

Shalmon added: “The market is still in the early stages of tapping into the immense potential of these marine ‘supercrops’. Our mission is to boost the entire microalgae value chain with new varieties and yields, and bring them to the mainstream of high-end nutraceutical food and cosmeceutical spheres with additional formulations in the pipeline.”

In a similar statement, the Amikam Bar-Gil, chief technology officer and co-founder of Yemoja, said: “Microalgae are sunlight-driven, single-celled factories, and by nature highly resilient and versatile.

“They are also a powerful source of natural, vegan, bioactive ingredients. Our innovative approach serves to create pure, sustainable microalgae-derived products of the highest quality, and that can be naturally adapted into any desired matrix.”

Investigating into the use of microalgae as a sustainable protein source has become more recognised throughout the industry with a Danish project called ‘Microalgae for foods’ announcing it had received funding earlier this year and Nestlé entering a joint agreement with Corbion to create microalgae-based ingredients.