There are tremendous opportunities for producing biofuel feedstock, omega-3 and feedstock for aquafeed; Looking for investments to ramp-up the activity in Israel and abroad
UniVerve Ltd. initiates the establishment of microalgae farms as feedstock for biofuel, food supplements and feed, based on its patent-pending technology. The combination of UniVerve’s selected microalgae strains, its production system’s efficiency and the commercialization of the complete biomass produced, results in an innovative production process with profitability levels anticipated to exceed those currently achieved by the microalgae industry. UniVerve’s cultivation and harvesting system is scalable and simple to construct, operate and maintain. Thanks to its high-yield and low-energy consumption, the production cost of an oil barrel as feedstock for biofuel is expected to be up to $50. The ability to profitably produce a commodity such as oil also makes this award-winning technology a game changer in the production of high value/small market compounds for food, cosmetics, pharma and more. UniVerve’s microalgae strain contains triglycerides that can serve as feedstock for biofuel, omega-3 EPA that can serve as feedstock for human food supplements, and full protein that can serve as feedstock for aquafeed.
The Commercial Opportunities
This presents UniVerve with a tremendous opportunity. The biofuel market value was $56 billion in 2012; it is expected to reach $113 billion by 2020. The omega-3 market value was $25 billion in 2011; it is expected to reach $35 billion by 2016, due to reduced availability and capture of Peruvian anchovy, the major source of omega-3 oils, and the rapid growth in the volume consumed in Asia. The biomass for feed market value was $15 billion in 2011 and is growing as the result of an increase in the quantity of onshore fish production. The global shortage of feedstock (oil, omega-3 and proteinrich biomass) drives up the price of these commodities, so fuel, food and feed players are constantly searching for alternatives that will lower COGS and save hedging cost. Microalgae are natural producers of these materials, thus they present immense commercial potential as valuable feedstock for these industries.
UniVerve’s multifaceted business development strategy includes the establishment of microalgae farms, singly or in joint ventures, as well as technology licensing. Farms may be designated for combined oil and food/feed production or for food/feed production alone. UniVerve’s revenues will include a combination of license fees, royalties, consulting fees and dividends, depending on the model chosen by each client. UniVerve began constructing its first farm in Israel, which is planned to reach 85 hectares by 2019 (see picture). As the regulatory and infrastructure support systems for biofuel in Israel are at an early stage, UniVerve’s first farm in Israel will be an omega-3 rich biomass production farm. Algal omega-3 and biomass exporters already presented UniVerve with letters of intent for the purchase of the entire production, which are expected to be replaced by binding off-take agreement in Q1/2015. UniVerve received great interest from potential off-takers in Europe, the USA and Asia and plans to begin the establishment of a second farm in Israel by 2016.
Businesses in the Far East
UniVerve has begun business development in Asia and partnered with a strong engineering company, United Engineers Limited (UEL) from Singapore, as its EPC partner. UniVerve, with UEL support, already found leading Chinese companies from the biofuel, omega-3 and aquafeed industries that are interested in becoming off-takersof materials from UniVerve’s future farm in
China, planned to be established by 2017. Since its establishment, UniVerve has been funded by its founders, Ohad Zuckerman and Ra’anan Herzog, who combine vast experience in the development of innovative processes in life science industries and have proven success in building and managing multinational companies. UniVerve is now seeking investment to secure the continuation of the scale-up of its farm in Israel and to strengthen its global expansion.
For more information visit UniVerve’s Website