Urban Algae Project:

Foreword: This Kisskissbankbank campaign is being launched as part of a pre-sales campaign for our first 2020 harvests.

We live in a challenging time, and we are experiencing an unprecedented environmental crisis. As a result, many of us are wondering how to act on our own scale and we don’t always know where to start.

Well, we firmly believe that immediate and cost-effective solutions can be implemented collectively. To do this, we have been inspired by the good old tricks of Mother Nature. We used to say that rainforests were the lungs of the planet when it is actually phytoplankton (or microalgae) that have been storing most of the CO2 in the oceans for 3.5 billion years.

Our project offers to use micro algae in urban farms to help depolluting. We incorporate micro algae into urban environments with our production tools located on building facades and rooftops. These tools are glass tubes containing a controlled culture medium that fosters the growth of micro algae.

For instance, 1m3 of microalgae has the same photosynthesis capacity as 80 to 100 trees. Our modules can reach 10m3 and therefore represent a small urban forest.

We have two main activities: first, put in place more urban farms to clean up the environment and second, commercialize the produced micro algae.

For Urban Farm Production, we work in collaboration with any actor who owns a building and wishes to host our modular and design farms to enhance an available space. Such actor buys the production tools that we exploit in exchange for a rent.

For Commercialization, we harvest micro algae weekly and all year round thanks to natural light and an LED system. Some is sold locally using short distribution channels, some is dehydrated to be used in the agri-food sector and some is processed in our laboratory to extract and use high value-added molecules in the agrocosmetics sector.

This approach is realistic because the equipment is validated by our suppliers. The innovation of our project lies in 2 elements:

- First, this a very autonomous tool that seamlessly integrates into the existing architecture

- Secondly, we adapt to each partner's own needs and exploit, for example, heat islands or the produced CO2

Quality of the products offered:
We work in collaboration with Bordeaux Science Agro where we develop the "recipes" for extracting molecules of interest, taking great care to use methods that respect the environment (consumption of energy, water and products that are not dangerous for humans and the planet).

The laboratories we benefit from are in compliance with standards and we ensure that we comply with the strictest health and safety rules from production to recovery.

Our team consists of 3 partners:

Alexis Chatain, founder of the company and Managing Director is a biotechnology engineer with a strong legitimacy in the world of microalgae.
Arnaud Pensivy, co-founder and President is a former Parisian consultant where he spent 7 years advising major groups on transformation (Wavestone and then EY Strategy)
Amalia Sayeh, Engineer in molecular biology and plant biotechnology worked at INRA, is our production manager in charge of the valorization of microalgae in the laboratory

2. Product overview :

Below is a guide to how to consume and to whom our Urban Algae products are addressed. You can order them during this pre-sale campaign.

To improve readability, do not hesitate to right-click on the image below and select "Show image".

3. Strategic partners :

"Darwin is a life-size playground for green innovation. This former military barracks of nearly 20,000 m2, located in Bordeaux on the right bank of the Quai des Queyries, is in constant effervescence. A kind of ideal city turned towards the green economy." It is therefore quite naturally that we have set up our offices there and that a first demonstrator will be installed there.

"In ten years, Bordeaux Technowest has supported more than 230 startups. Its budget now reaches €3 million per year, 45% of which is private funding, and its team of around 20 people." We benefit from quality external support from them by benefiting from an important local network. Their Techno'Start investment structure also contributed to the company's launch.

"Bordeaux Sciences Agro is a public institution of higher education and agricultural research under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food." We benefit from a very interesting partnership because we have access to the laboratory and very relevant support.

"Created in 2002 at the initiative of the Conseil régional de Nouvelle-Aquitaine and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (french public bank), the association Nouvelle-Aquitaine Amorçage promotes the development of innovative companies through its action." We have received 3 interest-free loans from the Aquitaine Amorçage organization

"Zero Carbon Territory La Rochelle : It is with this ambitious objective in mind that the rochelais consortium (Communauté d'Agglomération, Ville de La Rochelle, Université, Altantech, Port Atlantique) and its 130 partners proposed, at the end of April 2019, the bid "Zero Carbon Territory La Rochelle" as part of the national call for projects "Territoires d'Innovation". Managed by the Bank of the Territories, it follows the call for Expressions of Interest initiated in 2017. 24 projects had been selected in January 2018 from more than 110 applications." We have been selected for this Territorial Call for Proposals and our objective is to deploy urban farms from 2021 on the territory.

Urban Algae : using microalgae in urban farms to help depolluting

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