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It’s easy to get caught up in the news and activities of the industry’s global giants, but what about the smaller firms pushing boundaries with bold ideas? In this instalment of Start-up of the Month – which celebrates lesser-known companies and their innovations – we speak with Julian Melchiorri (left), founder and CEO, and Kaly Chatakondu (right), global commercial director at Arborea, a company pioneering sustainable food solutions through its fermented microalgae product, designed as an alternative to traditional proteins.

Arborea’s tech promises a game-changing protein source – clean, carbon-neutral and scalable. Can you tell us how the idea first came about, and what gap you were aiming to fill in the alt-protein market?

Arborea is reimagining the way we produce food in a world facing shrinking resources and mounting climate pressures. At the start and core of our mission is the BioSolar Leaf, a breakthrough technology that industrialises photosynthesis to grow microalgae using just sunlight and carbon dioxide as feedstocks.

Until now, microalgae have been extremely difficult to cultivate reliably and cost-effectively at scale.

Legacy processes such as open ponds are prone to cross-contamination from toxic algae, animals, heavy metals or indeed anything in the local environment.

Fermentation technology requires expensive capex and feedstocks, pressurised gases and an infrastructure that is simply difficult to scale. And of course, microalgae are typically green and can have fishy and earthy tastes with inconsistent quality and nutrition. Arborea's ‘breathing cultivation’ system is modular, low-capex and designed to work where traditional agriculture cannot: on non-fertile land, in arid zones, cities and more.

It captures CO₂ from industrial sources or agricultural waste and uses natural light to cultivate microalgae in a clean and controlled environment. There are no pesticides, minimal fertilisers, and it needs minimal fresh water with no dependency on rainfall or soil quality.

We can produce more nutrition per square metre than virtually any other method, so much so that a barren land area the size of Greater New York could meet the entire global protein needs projected for 2050, all by replicating nature’s oldest process.

In short, Arborea fills a gap in the alt-protein market by delivering ultra-high-yield protein with a clean taste and minimal environmental footprint all in a highly scalable system.

Your algae-based protein boasts a yield 150x higher than soy, with no farmland needed. For manufacturers under pressure to decarbonise and meet ESG goals, what kind of opportunity does this represent?

It’s an opportunity to decouple food production from land, water and climate, while replacing fragile supply chains with something resilient, renewable and local.

Increasing production of soy or other crops may require deforestation, irrigation, chemical inputs and long transport routes. Arborea’s system does not. It grows food from carbon dioxide and sunlight every single day of the year, and virtually anywhere.

This means manufacturers can drastically reduce land use, emissions and exposure to climate volatility while unlocking new sustainability and impact. And it doesn’t compete with food crops or natural ecosystems. That makes it uniquely scalable, with built-in ESG value and a powerful tool to reach Scope 3 carbon emission targets.

One of the key challenges with alternative proteins is taste, texture and versatility. How does your clean-tasting, neutral coloured ingredient fit into existing F&B applications – from dairy alternatives to cocktails?

Arborea’s technology can produce multiple food ingredients – in fact, any food ingredient found in any of the known 30,000 photosynthetic microalgae.

Our proteins are water-soluble, neutral in both taste and colour, and multifunctional, with foaming, emulsifying and gelling properties all in one. That means they can slot directly into existing formulations without masking agents, stabilisers or major flavour adjustments. They can be used in barista-style milk alternatives, hybrid dairy, bakery, savoury snacks, low-sugar chocolate and even functional beverages and cocktails.

The clean sensory profile is critical, especially for premium food and drink categories where taste and mouthfeel matter. And because the protein is rich in amino acids, antioxidants, essential fatty acids and bioactive vitamins and minerals, it also adds meaningful nutrition.

It’s a drop-in, next-generation ingredient designed for real-world applications. Hence the interest from major food corporations!

You are soon to break ground on the world’s first industrial photosynthesis facility in Portugal. What does this milestone mean for scale-up and commercial supply?

It’s a pivotal step from pilot to production. This will be the first time photosynthetic protein is produced at an industrial scale on non-arable land using only carbon dioxide, minimal fresh water and sunlight as feedstocks. The site is modular, allowing for rapid expansion, and is designed to supply early commercial volumes of our ingredients to global partners before they then assimilate the technology into their own supply chains.

It proves the system works not just in the lab, but in the field, and that it can be scaled efficiently, affordably and close to the point of use. This facility sets a precedent for what food production infrastructure can look like in the future: decentralised, decarbonised and resilient by design.

You're already collaborating with global players in the F&B space. What have you learned from these partnerships, and how are manufacturers responding to the potential of your product?

We are actively partnering with several of the largest food companies in the world and industrial players who share our commitment to sustainability and innovation.

We are not in a position to disclose specific names and applications just yet, having signed development agreements; however, an early example while we were developing our technology is our collaboration with AB InBev, where we were using carbon dioxide emitted from brewing processes as a feedstock for the Biosolar Leaf.

It shows how industrial waste gases can be transformed into sustainable proteins. It also importantly shows how Arborea’s technology can be integrated into existing industrial operations to both reduce emissions and create valuable products and is an important first step toward commercialising our system and helping companies meet their environmental goals.

We see collaboration as essential to driving system-wide change, and we’re excited to work with forward-thinking partners to make that happen.

Sustainability is often talked about, but harder to prove. How are you measuring Arborea’s carbon impact – and what kind of data or claims can you offer brand partners and manufacturers?

The BioSolar Leaf is the ideal manufacturing process for verifiable sustainability claims.

It uses no fertile land and converts two tons of carbon dioxide into one ton of food. It is a closed, modular, and easily scalable system in which every input is directly measured and controlled, such as the minimal water used, the amount of carbon dioxide sequestered and the minimal fertiliser needed (which could easily be organic!).

There is no transport of feedstocks, themselves grown on fertile land, such as the sugar inputs often needed for fermentation. The feedstock energy input is largely natural sunlight. Our process works on any surface anywhere in the world, so production can be placed in the areas of greatest utility, again vastly reducing the transport footprint. Elsewhere, we see proteins transported halfway across the world before they are used.

Finally, Arborea products can be used alone or in combination with dairy, meat and other proteins as they are both functional and highly nutritional, again allowing easy control over the overall carbon footprint of the final food product. All without compromising quality.

Looking ahead, what role do you see Arborea playing in the evolution of the global protein supply? How soon could your ingredient be available at scale in mainstream products?

Globally, agriculture uses 70% of the world’s fresh water and the estimate is that within five years, demand will exceed supply by 40%.

95% of the world’s soil is predicted to be degraded within 25 years. Every minute, an area the size of 18 football fields undergoes deforestation, and a recent study indicated that, on average, each of us carries the equivalent of five plastic caps worth of microplastics in our heads from the current food system!

There is a need, not to replace, but to add a new globally scalable supply of protein and other food ingredients into the traditional food supply chain. BioSolar Leaf industrial photosynthesis of microalgae can resolve all of these issues in one, simple-to-implement technology, anywhere in the world.

This is the solution for food security that the world needs to sustain the population of humans, animals and even pets. Microalgae and by-products from microalgae are also excellent potential sources of natural biostimulants and biofertilisers that work with traditional fertilisers. This will also help farmers keep their fertile land more fertile, aiding the existing food supply chain, which is suffering from climate stress and overuse of inorganic fertilisers.

What advice would you give to other start-ups in the food and beverage innovation space looking to move from prototype to pilot, and eventually to production at scale?

Always think from the manufacturer’s perspective. If your ingredient doesn’t fit into existing lines, comply with regulations, or hit the right unit economics, it won’t scale, no matter how innovative it is.

It is important to consider every part of the supply chain from land to consumer and to ensure that there is a benefit and that this is communicated to everyone.

If a farmer can utilise non-fertile land, if food manufacturers have a new source of naturally functional food ingredients, and the consumer can see a benefit in taste and texture, that is the sort of supply chain that can scale.

It is important to start as early as feasible to communicate these benefits all the way along the supply chain and not expect the world to suddenly welcome a new technology with open arms.

To this end, excellent food prototypes and organisations such as MISTA and the EIC Scaling Club, which bring together start-ups and corporates, can be very useful.

What tips can you share about securing investment in such a competitive climate, particularly when your product involves a novel technology or ingredient?

It is important to show that your technology solves one or more critical bottlenecks, that there is clear market demand and that you have a clear business plan to meet this demand. Investors want to see not just the science, but the system: the route to market, the scalability, the defensibility. It’s not enough to have a better product; you need a faster, cheaper, cleaner way to make it.

Investors will challenge every assumption and will require data and feedback from all stakeholders, including collaborators and customers. They want to see a clear path to significant investment returns that fits with their timescales and objectives, so the business plan must demonstrate this.

But it also must be remembered that the investment landscape is large and incredibly diverse, so it is not just about having the right message, but that you are delivering it to the right people interested in receiving it because it aligns with their objectives. This takes time, connections and perseverance.

The more real-world traction you can demonstrate, the stronger your position will be too.

Finally, what’s next? Are there new product formats, ingredient applications or international markets you’re especially excited about?

We’re scaling our existing protein production with multinational partners and exploring next-generation formats also for specialised nutrition.

The BioSolar Leaf is an enabling technology that can, in principle, make any ingredient found in any of the 30,000 photosynthetic microalgae - whether it is protein, natural colours, essential Omega fatty acids, nutritious carbohydrates or bioactive vitamins and minerals.

All these ingredients can be made from just carbon dioxide and natural sunlight in virtually unlimited quantities on non-fertile land from the same factory set up and the same biomass. The more we develop applications and knowledge by ourselves, or with our international partners and collaborators, the more we are finding new possibilities across dairy, beverages, bakery, savoury and confectionery.

We are also finding new opportunities outside of traditional food products. In our food science laboratories, we have shown how we can reduce the sugar content in milk chocolate with no noticeable difference, how to make delicious plant-based milk that does not even curdle in coffee, or even how to make nutraceutical gummy bears!

Anything else you would like our readers to know?

If we want to feed 10 billion people without accelerating environmental collapse, we must stop asking how to grow more and start asking how to grow differently, helping farmers use non-fertile as well as fertile land. That begins with rethinking what food infrastructure can look like. Microalgae cultivation is not a replacement for all agriculture, but it can serve as a powerful complement.

With the right technology, we can grow nutrition directly from sunlight and carbon dioxide, anywhere, every day, with no compromise on taste or quality.

It is not just time for new ingredients, but for new food systems.