NOOSAVILLE, Australia—July 13, 2021—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Provectus Algae (Provectus), an Australian biotechnology company specialising in the optimisation of algae to produce high-value compounds for use in a wide array of industries and applications, as a partner in the Marine Bioproducts Cooperative Research Center (MB-CRC) has won a federal government grant to advance research and development, and commercialization program in support of Australia’s efforts to transform the country’s marine bioproducts sector into a globally competitive industry.

The MB-CRC is a major development initiative between global leaders in research and industry and intended to generate valuable and sustainably produced marine-sourced bio-products, with matching co-investment from the Australian government. The MB-CRC has been designed to provide the innovation foundation and organisational support for the marine bioproducts industry sector across the supply and value chain as it drives to become a major export earner for Australia over the next decade.

Provectus will share in A$59 million of cash contributions from the federal government over 10 years. The company, one of the lead partners in this collaboration, will also provide a A$1M cash contribution and in-kind services to the MB-CRC’s consortium of 68 industry, government, and research partners to support development of new products and industries such as nutraceuticals, cosmetics, agro-chemicals and supplements derived from marine life such as seaweed and algae.

“This grant award will allow us to add non-dilutive capital to our continuing R&D efforts which will support the expansion of our company’s synthetic biology stack and allow us to deliver high-performance, sustainable products and sought-after specialty ingredients globally, while positively impacting Australia’s shared vision of accelerating the growth of the emerging export-focused marine bioproducts industry,” said Provectus CEO and Founder Nusqe Spanton.

Provectus programs algae using Precision Photosynthesis® and gene engineering to produce valuable molecules. This approach naturally synthesizes molecules using light to control biology. Proprietary hardware, software and machine learning come together to accelerate nature in a way never imagined before. The Provectus platform enables sustainable production and addresses supply chain challenges by providing end-to-end services from product development to large scale production in microalgae. Since closing its seed round last year, Provectus has been developing products and engineering their proprietary production systems.

The company's product pipeline includes two recombinant proteins developed by the Provectus team along with a suite of natural products in development, one of which already has a commercial agreement with a world-leading food and beverage ingredients supplier. Each of these products fit three market segments of focus including food and beverage, animal health, and agricultural chemicals.

For more information visit provectusalgae.com.

ABOUT PROVECTUS ALGAE

Provectus Algae is an Australian biotech company that programs algae to produce the world's most valuable speciality ingredients. By accelerating nature, their team is able to optimise unique microalgae to produce a whole new range of natural products, in a process described as “precision photosynthesis”. Using next-generation techniques the company has also developed a synthetic biology stack that complements and competes with existing production platforms to deliver high-performance and sustainable products.

To learn more, please visit provectusalgae.com.

Media Contact:Kate Blom-Lowery619-743-6295kblomlowery@cglife.com