Brevel and Wave Group partner to build illuminated fermentation plant in India

Israeli biotech firm Brevel has formed a joint venture to construct a large illuminated fermentation facility in India. The plant will run on sugar mill byproducts to produce sustainable alternative proteins.

Israeli biotech firm Brevel has signed a joint venture agreement with Indian conglomerate The Wave Group. The two companies will build an illuminated fermentation plant in Uttar Pradesh, northern India. The 50/50 joint venture will see The Wave Group fund the facility. Total investment is estimated at between $10 million and $15 million. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year, with full-scale production expected to start within 18 months. The plant is planned with a total capacity of 300,000 litres. It will run on byproducts from the group's sugar mills to cut transport costs. Brevel grows photosynthetic microorganisms in closed bioreactors supplied with sugar and light. The technology uses light to allow organisms like chlorella to produce compounds such as chlorophyll and carotenoids. The process is protected by four patents. Yonatan Golan is the CEO and co-founder of Brevel. The Uttar Pradesh plant will initially produce Purallis. This is Brevel's clean-label chlorella ingredient for nutraceuticals. Output will exceed the 5,000-liter bioreactor at Brevel's commercial facility in southern Israel. The new site will also produce other organisms that benefit from light. The partners intend to make the platform available to companies developing light-driven ingredients. Brevel previously developed its process to produce microalgae protein for dairy alternatives. It signed a ten-year supply agreement with Israel's CBC Group in 2025. This year, the company moved into plant cell culture. It secured a $1.25 million BIRD Foundation grant in June with US biotech Ayana Bio to test plant cell growth. Manpreet Singh Chadha of The Wave Group stated that the partnership defines a new era in biomanufacturing. The alliance positions The Wave Group as a production hub serving global food and supplement markets. Representatives of the Israeli embassy and officials from Invest India attended the signing ceremony in New Delhi.

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