Biotech specialist NXW Nutrition From Water has invested an equity stake in PhycoFerm, a Portugal-based microalgae strain development company.

This investment marks the launch of a scientific collaboration between the two biotech businesses. NXW Nutrition From Water focuses on producing affordable, complete, water-derived protein and fibre ingredients at industrial scale. It partners with global food and nutrition corporations, aiming to diversify ingredient supply, reduce costs and boost supply chain resilience.

The collaboration aims to accelerate NXW Nutrition From Water’s biological asset strategy across strain generations I and II.

NXW Nutrition From Water’s approach consists of ongoing iteration cycle across strain, process development, scale manufacturing and formulation, with a commercial-first, partnership-forward ethos.

Based in Portugal’s Algarve region, PhycoFerm uses fermentation and downstream processes to develop proprietary, non-GMO microalgae strains, aiming to ‘empower health and wellbeing’ with novel algae-based ingredients and circular production approaches.

The partnership bolsters NXW Nutrition From Water’s presence in the Algarve, with both companies benefitting from the region’s research infrastructure and biotechnology ecosystem.

Federico Duarte, CEO of NXW Nutrition From Water, said: “This partnership reflects the core thesis in our playbook: to build a new category at scale and with a cost advantage, we need the right partners structurally connected across the value chain,” he said. “We see success coming from a coordinated cohort of allies doing what each one of them does best.”