MiAlgae announced that it has received £500,000 from investors to expand its team and build a pilot plant for its technology at a whisky distillery.  

The company grows algae rich in omega-3 and other nutrients using co-products from the whisky distillation process. The microalgae produced can be used as a raw material for agricultural food products, with the company initially targeting the aquaculture industry.

“This is a huge deal for us,” said Douglas Martin, founder of MiAlgae. “This investment will fund the initial scale-up steps and de-risk our commercial facility. It certainly sets us on track to achieve our ambitions.”

Martin will be looking to expand the company’s production capacity 30-fold and will be expanding his team of two, to reach five.

The £500,000 seed investment, in equal shares from Equity Gap, the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scotland’s enterprise agencies, and the University’s venture fund Old College Capital, follows a series of competition and funding successes.

“This is an exciting new equity investment for Scottish Enterprise into a company that has utilised the circular economy to make an innovative and valuable product," stated Kerry Sharp, head of the Scottish Investment Bank. "The funding round will also allow high value R&D employment opportunities to be created in rural Scotland with the roll out of the new pilot plant.”