Brevel and The Wave Group Build 300,000-Liter Fermentation Plant in India

Brevel and The Wave Group have signed a 50/50 joint venture to build a 300,000-liter illuminated fermentation plant in Uttar Pradesh, India, using sugar mill byproducts as feedstock. The agreement was signed in New Delhi at a ceremony attended by officials from the Embassy of Israel, Israel’s Economic and Trade Mission, and Invest India. The facility will use side streams from The Wave Group’s adjacent sugar mills, creating a circular production model.

This move marks a major expansion for light-enhanced microalgae production. The Indian plant's capacity far exceeds the 5,000-liter bioreactor at Brevel's commercial facility in southern Israel, which opened in 2025. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year.

Technology and capacity leap

The new plant will use Brevel's patented light-enhanced fermentation process. This technology combines sugar-fed fermentation with controlled light inside a closed system. It is protected by four patents.

The scale represents a significant jump. The plant will employ 30,000-liter illuminated fermenters, a sixfold increase from Brevel's current 5,000-liter reactors. The total investment for the joint venture facility is estimated at between $10 million and $15 million. The cost of constructing the building and basic utilities is excluded from this figure and will be covered by The Wave Group.

Brevel claims its process yields 100 times higher biomass than traditional light-based cultivation methods. The technology also enables the production of specific compounds like RuBisCo protein, lutein, and zeaxanthin within the microalgae.

Investment and timeline

The first phase of the project involves an investment of $15 million for a capacity of 100,000 liters. The Wave Group will fund the facility construction. Full-scale production at the complete 300,000-liter plant is expected to start within 18 months of the construction start.

Production will begin at Brevel's existing 5,000-liter facility in Israel and ramp up in India during 2028. Brevel, founded in 2016, has secured $30 million in funding to date. The company's Israeli factory has been operating since 2025 with full validation of its technology and product quality.

Product focus and market applications

Initial output will be Purallis, Brevel's clean-label chlorella vulgaris biomass ingredient for the nutraceutical market. This whole-cell product is rich in protein and micronutrients. Chlorella production at the Indian site is estimated to reach 900 tons annually.

The facility will also have capacity to serve external customers, particularly startups in the plant cell culture space. Brevel is already working with US biotech Ayana Bio, having secured a $1.25 million BIRD Foundation grant in June 2026 to test how light can improve plant cell growth. For such applications, light can increase yields by 200-300% and reduce production time by up to 90%.

Brevel is negotiating production capacity with plant cell culture businesses, with an estimated annual output of 200-400 tons for these products. One prospective nutraceutical deal is expected to begin at the Israeli factory before expanding into India. The final mix of chlorella and external customer products has not been announced.

Strategic positioning

Manpreet Singh Chadha of The Wave Group stated that the alliance positions his conglomerate as an important production hub serving global food and supplement markets. The Wave Group's businesses include sugar manufacturing, real estate, beverages, and infrastructure. It is recognized as one of India's leading sugar manufacturers.

Brevel originally developed its process to produce microalgae protein for dairy alternatives. In 2025, it signed a ten-year supply agreement with Israel's largest beverage company, CBC Group, which plans to launch a product line using the ingredient in mid-2027. Purallis chlorella is seen as a profitable entry into an existing market, requiring no new regulation or process development. Full-scale production in India is expected within 18 months of construction start.