NXW Nutrition from Water invests in PhycoFerm, accelerating microalgae R&D
Key takeaways
- NXW Nutrition from Water is taking an equity stake in Spanish biotech company PhycoFerm to launch a joint R&D initiative.
- The partnership will focus on accelerating high-yield, non-GMO microalgae strains to scale up protein and fiber production.
- The collaboration expands NXW’s footprint in Portugal’s Algarve region, which is emerging as a major hub for Europe’s blue bioeconomy.
NXW Nutrition from Water, a producer of industrial-scale, water-sourced protein and fiber ingredients for global food and nutrition corporations, has taken an equity stake in the Spanish microalgae strain development and biotechnology company PhycoFerm.
The investment will spearhead a joint R&D initiative to accelerate NXW’s foundational “Generation I” microalgae strains and its next-generation, high-yield “Generation II” strains through PhycoFerm’s mutagenesis, adaptive laboratory evolution, and high-throughput screening.
NXW Nutrition from Water has undertaken an ongoing iteration cycle across process development, scale manufacturing, and formulation.
“This partnership reflects the core thesis in our playbook: to build a new category at scale and with a cost advantage, we need the right partners structurally connected across the value chain,” says Federico Duarte, CEO of NXW Nutrition from Water.
“We see success coming from a coordinated cohort of allies doing what each one of them does best.”
Advancing strain improvement
As a pioneer of bioactive nutrition, PhycoFerm develops proprietary, non-GMO microalgae strains together with fermentation and downstream processes. The company’s integrated strain-process design targets cost, quality, and scalability barriers.
The company offers advanced capabilities in strain improvement through classical random mutagenesis, adaptive laboratory evolution, and high-throughput screening to identify variants with enhanced productivity, robustness, and targeted metabolic traits.
PhycoFerm highlights the expanding range of microalgal derivatives, which offer key antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties.
PhycoFerm highlights the expanding range of microalgal derivatives, which offer key antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties.
“We believe microalgae are the most efficient and nutritionally complete production organisms available to us today,” says Benjamin Schmid, COO of PhycoFerm. “They have the potential to reshape how the world makes protein and functional ingredients.”
“We are excited about the partnership because it allows us to stay focused on our core strengths while contributing to the transition of microalgae-based ingredients into scalable, commercially viable platforms for next-generation ingredients.”
Expanding Algarve footprint
The partnership builds NXW Nutrition from Water’s footprint in Portugal’s Algarve region, which is home to leading research infrastructure and a growing concentration of biotechnology activities.
“The region has the science, the coastline, and now the companies to become a genuine hub for Europe’s blue bioeconomy,” says Hugo Barros, head of Division at CRIA.
“The partnership between PhycoFerm and NXW Nutrition from Water is exactly the kind of collaboration that reflects this momentum, bringing next-generation strain development to commercial scale in southern Portugal.”
In other microalgae news from within the field, nutraceutical ingredients company SuanNutra USA finalized a distribution agreement with Spanish biotech company Fitoplancton Marino to supply its microalgae-based ingredient TetraSOD across North America. The marine bioactive complex offers clinically backed benefits in cellular and metabolic health, with demonstrated benefits in body composition and energy metabolism.
