Brevel, an Israeli startup developing microalgae into an alternative protein, has netted $18.5 million in seed funding. The round includes $8.4 million converted from grants and convertible loans into shares. The round was led by NevaTeam Partners and supported by the European Union’s EIC Fund (that recently backed Woodio), as well as other leading food and climate funds and strategic partners from within the food industry.
The Tel Aviv-based startup will use the funds to provide an alternative protein that is neutral-tasting, functional, highly sustainable, and affordable to the mainstream food industry.
Also, Brevel is scaling its manufacturing capacity with the first-of-its-kind commercial factory in Israel and preparing for the construction of an additional much larger facility with a total capacity of 900,000L planned for 2025. The first products incorporating Brevel’s protein inside are expected to be on shelves during 2024.
“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 materialize,” says Yonatan Golan, CEO and Co-Founder of Brevel. “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”.
“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 towards that goal,” said 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.”
“We identified Brevel as an ambitious company with breakthrough technology that can provide significant impact. After the Horizon 2020 non-dilutive grant, the EIC Fund made the decision to further support and join Brevel with an equity investment in their journey towards a sustainable future,” added Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board.
Develops microalgae-based alternative proteins
Founded by three brothers Yonatan, Matan and Ido Golan in 2016 in Tel Aviv, Brevel provides alternative protein based on microalgae. With its unique proprietary technology, the company develops alternative proteins from microalgae. In a first-of-its-kind approach, this tech combines sugar-based fermentation and light concentrations in industrial-scale systems.
The end result is a protein that is sustainable on earth, flavor, and colour neutral, highly functional and suitable to be incorporated into a large variety of food applications. Furthermore, for the first time, this alternative protein costs on par with traditional plant-based sources such as pea and soy.
It does not require arable land, can recycle 100% of the water, use on-site clean energy, and feed the world with a fraction of the land used today for traditional agriculture. Brevel has been operating its large-scale 500L pilot in Israel.
