Mission
Become one of the world leading companies in the field of macroalgae derived ingredients for the food industry reducing deforestation and freshwater consumption for agriculture.
Vision
In the near future Genesea will become a world leader in the sustainable bio-chemicals supply chain. Being the sustainability leader means generating profits with responsibility to the environment and society.
Genesea developed a core competence in a zero waste and zero emission biochemical supply chain from offshore grown marine macroalgae. This will differentiate us from other players and create low cost and sustainable solutions for our customers. Our products will allow our clients and partners to position themselves in the new era of sustainable economies.
Fighting deforestation
Since the 1950s, global soybean production has increased 15 times over. For example, since 2000, Brazil has doubled its total area of soy plantation to 36 million hectares and become the world’s largest producer. This expansion has erased vast swathes of forest and other habitats in some of the country’s most biodiverse regions. Without proper safeguards, the soybean industry will continue to cause widespread deforestation and displacement of small farmers and indigenous peoples around the globe.
Why does the world need an alternative to the low-cost soybeans?
On the global level, soybeans need large quantities of fresh water which is less and less available in many countries. In order to produce 1kg of soy-based protein 6600 litters of drinking water are needed. In recent years extensive growth of biofuel crops is making this problem even worse. American Biofuels Council claimed that the ultimate limiting factor in biofuels production would be the availability of water.
In terms of nutrition: Products based on soybeans proteins lack Vitamin B12 which is essential to the human diet. A vitamin B12 deficiency is a very serious problem leading ultimately to anemia and irreversible nerve damage. The cost of vitamin B12 supplement is $1.5/month per person. In addition, soy proteins lack the basic amino acid Methionine. A new $11B industry of amino acid food supplements is emerging.
Soybeans tend to produce allergic symptoms. It is a hypersensitivity to dietary substances from soy that causes an overreaction of the immune system which may lead to severe physical symptoms for millions of people. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America estimates soy is among the nine most common food allergens for pediatric and adult food allergy patients.
Technology
Genesea technology relies on a decade of basic and translational research at Tel Aviv University addressing contributing to the entier supply chain of offshore macroalgae based biorefinery. genesea’s uniqe set of technologies address the whole life cycle of seaweed biorefinery: from spore production to chemical free and low energy extraction of food ingredients.Our set of biomass production technologies includes everything from the work in the hatchery such as spore management at the laboratory, strain selection and breeding to thalli seedling for offshore cultivation, systems installation and set of unique techniques for biomass harvesting and low energy dewatering offshore.Our competency in processing includes use of mild and low energy disintegration methods, coupled with innovative extraction and purification and concentration technologies, allowing preservation of functional properties of macroalgae derived food ingredients such as proteins.Our goal is to combine findings from basic research to scalable technologies to produce affordable and sustainable food ingredients.
Sustainability
Genesea supports the worlds sustainability by:
No arable land footprint
No fresh water used for biomass production
No pesticide and fertilizers used
Net carbon sequestration
Nitrogen sequestration
Deforestation reduction
Marine environment enrichment
Call for collaboration
We're actively seeking collaboraration in the following fields:
Seaweed farmers
Fish farmers
Food companies with vision to create new products for their customers
Plastic and materials companies
Team
Ivri Goren
Experienced Food Industry executive. Former VP Tnuva, Chairman of multiple companies in the field of food, beverages and packaging. Direct responsibility for revenues of 2B NIS
Prof. Alexander Golberg
>100 peer reviewed papers, 2 granted patents and 10 patent applications in the field of macroalgae and enabling food processing technologies.
Alexander Chemodanov
Experienced Aquaculture Industry professional. Expert on industrial scale seaweed cultivation. >20 papers and 2 patent applications