The 50/50 joint venture will use sugar-mill byproducts as feedstock, with initial capacity of 100,000 liters and full-scale production targeted within 18 months.
Israeli biotech company Brevel Ltd. has signed a 50/50 joint-venture agreement with Indian conglomerate The Wave Group to establish a fermentation plant in Uttar Pradesh, with construction expected to begin later this year. Brevel estimates the investment at $10 million to $15 million, excluding the building and basic utilities, which Wave will fund.
Israel’s deputy head of mission in India, representatives of the Economic and Trade Mission of Israel and Invest India officials attended the signing ceremony in New Delhi.
First phase to cost $15 million
The first phase will have 100,000 liters of capacity, with infrastructure designed to accommodate expansion to 300,000 liters, Brevel CEO Yonatan Golan said. By comparison, Brevel’s commercial site in Israel has a 5,000-liter bioreactor.
Construction is scheduled to begin later this year, and Brevel expects full-scale production within 18 months. The facility will initially produce Purallis, a chlorella-based ingredient for the natralceutical market. Chlorella is a type of microalga.
Brevel said the plant could also produce other light-dependent products and organisms.
Sugar mills to supply raw material
The plant will ferment byproducts from Wave’s sugar mills, and its proximity to the mills is expected to cut transportation costs, Brevel said. Golan said Brevel has tested molasses, raw sugar and sucrose-rich intermediates from sugarcane refining, and current results indicate lower costs. Teams from both companies are now optimizing the process.
Facility to serve plant cell culture firms
The facility will also offer commercial-scale production to plant cell culture companies, Golan said. Some of Brevel’s current partners are interested in securing capacity, he said.
Brevel works with Ayana Bio, a U.S. plant cell technology company. Under the proposed scale-up pathway, customers would first develop their processes at
Brevel’s Israel facility, which it plans to expand to 30,000 liters, before production moves to India, Golan said.
Process pairs sugar fermentation with light
Sugar supplies energy and nutrients inside a closed system, and light enables photosynthetic microorganisms such as chlorella to produce compounds including chlorophyll and carotenoids. Brevel says four patents protect the process. It opened its first commercial plant in 2025 and has secured $30 million in funding.
Wave outlines its role in global ingredient supply
Wave Group Chairman Manpreet Singh Chadha said the venture adds to the group’s food processing and product innovation businesses and makes Wave a production hub for global food and supplement markets. The group also operates in industrial manufacturing, real estate, beverages and infrastructure development.
First long-term supply deals expected
Golan said Brevel expects to sign its first long-term purchase agreements for future capacity. CBC Group, an Israeli beverage company, plans to launch a product line using Brevel ingredients in mid-2027, he said. Production will start at Brevel’s Israel site and expand to India once the venture begins operating, which Golan expects during 2028.
