Urban Algae : using microalgae in urban farms to help depolluting

<p><strong>Urban Algae Project:</strong></p> <p><strong>Foreword:</strong> This Kisskissbankbank campaign is being launched as part of a <strong>pre-sales </strong>campaign for our first <strong>2020 harvests</strong>.</p> <div class="k-ResponsiveIframeContainer"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="281" scrolling="no" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FAGmJcSAZXXA%3Ffeature%3Doembed&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DAGmJcSAZXXA&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FAGmJcSAZXXA%2Fhqdefault.jpg&amp;key=8b7d8dd6504d41af9a77662672aabc2a&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=youtube" width="500"></iframe></div> <p>We live in a&nbsp;<strong>challenging time</strong>, and we are experiencing an unprecedented environmental crisis. As a result, many of us are wondering how to act on&nbsp;<strong>our own scale</strong>&nbsp;and we don&rsquo;t&nbsp;always know where to start.</p> <p>Well, we firmly believe that <strong>immediate and cost-effective solutions</strong> can be implemented <strong>collectively</strong>. To do this, we have been inspired by the good<strong> old tricks of&nbsp;Mother&nbsp;Nature</strong>.&nbsp;We used to say that&nbsp;rainforests&nbsp;were the lungs of the planet when&nbsp;it is&nbsp;actually&nbsp;phytoplankton&nbsp;(or microalgae) that have been storing most of the CO2 in the oceans for 3.5 billion years.</p> <p><img alt="" height="332" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/630999/algue-bleu-vert-ou-spiruline-en-chine_5500217-1573641975.jpg" width="499" /></p> <p>Our project offers to use micro algae in urban farms to help&nbsp;<strong>depolluting</strong>. We incorporate micro algae into urban environments&nbsp;with&nbsp;our production tools located on building facades and rooftops. These tools are&nbsp;<strong>glass tubes</strong>&nbsp;containing a&nbsp;<strong>controlled culture medium</strong>&nbsp;that fosters&nbsp;the growth of micro algae.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="" height="307" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/630998/Image1-1573641899.jpg" width="410" /></p> <p>For instance,&nbsp;<strong>1m3 of microalgae</strong>&nbsp;has the same&nbsp;photosynthesis capacity as&nbsp;<strong>80 to 100 trees</strong>. Our modules&nbsp;can reach&nbsp;<strong>10m3&nbsp;</strong>and&nbsp;therefore represent a small urban forest.&nbsp;</p> <p>We have two main activities:&nbsp;first, put in place more urban farms to&nbsp;<strong>clean up the environment&nbsp;</strong>and second,&nbsp;<strong>commercialize&nbsp;</strong>the produced micro algae.</p> <p>For Urban Farm&nbsp;<strong>Production</strong>, we work in&nbsp;<strong>collaboration</strong>&nbsp;with any actor who owns&nbsp;a building and wishes to host our modular and design farms to enhance an available space. Such actor buys the production tools that we&nbsp;exploit in exchange for&nbsp;a rent.&nbsp;</p> <p>For&nbsp;<strong>Commercialization</strong>, we harvest micro algae weekly and all year round thanks to natural light and an LED system. Some is&nbsp;sold&nbsp;locally using short distribution channels, some&nbsp;is dehydrated&nbsp;to be used&nbsp;in the agri-food sector and some is&nbsp;processed&nbsp;in&nbsp;our&nbsp;laboratory to extract and use high value-added molecules&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;agrocosmetics&nbsp;sector.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>This approach is <strong>realistic</strong> because the equipment is&nbsp;validated&nbsp;by our <strong>suppliers</strong>. The <strong>innovation</strong> of our project lies in 2 elements:</p> <p>-&nbsp;First, this a very autonomous tool that&nbsp;seamlessly&nbsp;integrates into the&nbsp;<strong>existing architecture&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong>&nbsp;</p> <p>-&nbsp;Secondly, we <strong>adapt to each partner&#39;s own needs and exploit</strong>, for example, heat islands or the produced CO2</p> <p><strong>Quality of the products offered:</strong><br /> We work in collaboration with Bordeaux Science Agro where we develop the &quot;recipes&quot; 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).</p> <p><img alt="" height="460" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/634165/IMG_8004__2_-1574763463.JPG" width="434" /></p> <p>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.</p> <p>Our team consists of 3 partners:</p> <ul> <li>Alexis Chatain, founder of the company and Managing Director is a biotechnology engineer with a strong legitimacy in the world of microalgae.</li> <li>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)</li> <li>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</li> </ul> <p><img alt="" height="362" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/631001/Groupe_Urban_Algae-1573642030.JPG" width="462" /></p> <p><strong>2. Product overview :</strong></p> <p>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.</p> <p>To improve readability, do not hesitate to right-click on the image below and select &quot;Show image&quot;.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/637339/KKBBcomp3_EN-1576065480.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p><strong>3. Strategic partners :</strong></p> <p><img alt="" height="49" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/635255/Darwin-1575279631.png" width="191" /></p> <p><img alt="" height="345" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/635285/Darwin_ecosystem-1575280244.jpg" width="518" /></p> <p>&quot;<em>Darwin is a life-size playground for<strong> green innovation</strong>. This former military barracks of nearly 20,000 m2, located in<strong> Bordeaux</strong> on the right bank of the Quai des Queyries, is in constant effervescence. A kind of ideal city turned towards the green economy.</em>&quot; It is therefore quite naturally that we have set up our <strong>offices</strong> there and that a first <strong>demonstrator</strong> will be installed there.</p> <p><img alt="" height="100" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/635257/Bordeaux_TECHNOWEST-1575279659.png" width="199" /></p> <p>&quot;<em>In ten years, <strong>Bordeaux Technowest </strong>has supported more than <strong>230 startups</strong>. Its budget now reaches &euro;3 million per year, 45% of which is private funding, and its team of around 20 people.</em>&quot; We benefit from quality <strong>external support</strong> from them by benefiting from an important local network. Their <strong>Techno&#39;Start</strong> investment structure also contributed to the company&#39;s launch.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="" height="110" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/635260/BSA-1575279677.png" width="57" /></p> <p>&quot;<em><strong>Bordeaux Sciences Agro</strong> is a public institution of higher education and agricultural research under the supervision of the <strong>Ministry of Agriculture and Food</strong>.</em>&quot; We benefit from a very interesting <strong>partnership</strong> because we have access to the <strong>laboratory</strong> and very relevant <strong>support</strong>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="" height="39" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/635264/Aquiti-1575279718.png" width="141" /></p> <p>&quot;<em>Created in 2002 at the initiative of the <strong>Conseil r&eacute;gional de Nouvelle-Aquitaine </strong>and the <strong>Caisse des D&eacute;p&ocirc;ts et Consignations (french public bank)</strong>, the association Nouvelle-Aquitaine Amor&ccedil;age promotes the development of innovative companies through its action.</em>&quot; We have received <strong>3 interest-free&nbsp;loans</strong> from the Aquitaine Amor&ccedil;age organization</p> <p><img alt="" height="96" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/635265/LRTZC-1575279731.png" width="144" /></p> <p>&quot;<strong>Zero Carbon Territory La Rochelle </strong>: It is with this ambitious objective in mind that the rochelais consortium (Communaut&eacute; d&#39;Agglom&eacute;ration, Ville de La Rochelle, Universit&eacute;, Altantech, Port Atlantique) and its 130 partners proposed, at the end of April 2019, the bid &quot;<strong>Zero Carbon Territory La Rochelle</strong>&quot; as part of the national call for projects &quot;Territoires d&#39;Innovation&quot;. Managed by the Bank of the Territories, it follows the call for Expressions of Interest initiated in 2017. <strong>24 projects had been selected in January 2018 from more than 110 applications.</strong>&quot; We have been selected for this Territorial Call for Proposals and our objective is to deploy urban farms from 2021 on the territory.</p>