In Scotland, a startup producing colorants from algae has completed an oversubscribed funding round of £2 million (USD$2.6 million).
Scot Bio says the funds will be used to scale up production. Participants included Kelvin Capital, Investing Women, Oghma Partners, and private investors in the United Kingdom and United States.
The company manufactures blues and greens using phycocyanin, a pigment derived from algae. Collaborations with Newcastle University and The University of Edinburgh helped the company develop modular systems not subject to seasonal issues.
“This is exciting news for Scot Bio and a demonstration of the high quality of our product and the exceptional team behind it,” David Van Alstyne, Scot Bio CEO tells The Scotsman. “Our ambition is to be the world leader in the production of phycocyanin and other functional food ingredients and with our experienced board, technical and management staff and the support from our friends in academia I am confident we will do it.”