Provectus Algae (Provectus), an Australian synthetic biology and biomanufacturing company, has raised $11.4 million in a pre-series A funding round. The funding comes from Hitachi Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Hitachi, and Vectr Ventures of Hong Kong.
Provectus Algae will use the finance to develop their biomanufacturing platform, support R&D for early-stage product development, increase commercial production capacity, and commercialise market-ready products.
The company develops, scales, and markets bio-based products for a range of applications in agriculture, food and beverage, and medicine. Their end-to-end system improves ensures rapid development and commercialisation of new algae-based product ideas. Many products are already in the pipeline, including recombinant proteins developed by Provectus. It has also secured a commercial agreement with a global good and beverage ingredients supplier.
Their biomanufacturing system deploys sophisticated technology for scaled microalgae cultivation. Their Precision Photosynthesis photobioreactor controls lighting conditions around the microalgae culture, offering a better growing technique than raceway ponds in places where sunlight is intermittent. Computational modelling also helps scale the production of compounds economically by optimising growth conditions.
“We are excited to have Hitachi Ventures join this round, their mandate has high alignment with our vision for Provectus and we look forward to developing a close working relationship with the Hitachi team to expedite the scale of our technology during this next phase of growth and beyond,” said Nusqe Spanton, CEO. “To have the Vectr Ventures team step up again and co-Lead this round alongside Hitachi Ventures means a lot to our team. The support they have provided to date has been invaluable and we are pleased to have their continued backing.”
Hitachi Ventures has been targeting early-stage companies working on environmental and social solutions through decarbonising technologies. They established a second fund dedicated to this earlier in 2021. Provectus has been its first cornerstone beneficiary.
“Provectus perfectly fits the profile of innovative, early-stage companies that we envisioned when we created Hitachi Ventures’ second fund,” said Pete Bastien, Partner at Hitachi Ventures. “Through this investment and more to come, Hitachi is working to solve the global environmental and social issues in collaboration with like-minded, visionary entrepreneurs. Together, we are working towards the realization of a decarbonized, sustainable society.”
