The algae industry sits on a paradox: despite being one of nature’s most nutrient-dense and sustainable resources, algae-based products often struggle with low bioavailability, low sensory performance, and high production costs. Enter Kybele’s Garden, a Turkish biotechnology company with a subsidiary in the UK, positioning itself as the solution to this fundamental challenge. With a recently launched investment round to advance its mission and an Earthshot Prize nomination validating its impact, the company is creating cost-effective, highly functional algae derivatives that can replace unsustainable ingredients across agriculture, food, and cosmetics industries.
We sat down with Co-Founder and CEO Aygen Savaş Alkan to discuss their unique co-culture fermentation approach, the disciplined scaling strategy that sets them apart from other algae ventures, and why 2026 will be a pivotal acceleration year for the company.
Kybele’s Garden Co-Founder and CEO, Aygen Savaş Alkan
This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
Forward Fooding: Why did you start the company, and what is the impact you want to generate at the food system level with your solution?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: Kybele’s Garden was founded in 2021 with a TÜBİTAK grant at ODTÜ Teknokent, and the journey since then has been marked by strategic validation milestones. Shortly after founding, the company was awarded by the EIT Food Empowering Women in Agrifood program, completing its six-month accelerator. Our team later joined programs including the Royal Academy of Engineering & Oxentia, partnered with LIF Global, MassChallenge Switzerland, and Portugal-based Blue Bio Value program, building a foundation for our ambitious vision.
Today, Kybele’s Garden pioneers in algae-based biotechnology through a clear value proposition: designing and producing algae-based raw materials with high bioavailability, engineered for industrial-scale applications by fermentation for high-value-added ingredients with bacteria & yeast co-culture biomass fermentation across the agriculture, food, and cosmetics industries through advanced algal biotechnology.
The mission driving our growth is clear: to innovate the algae industry with unique perspectives and discipline. The long-term vision extends even further—to replace the chemicals and unsustainable ingredients with cost-effective, highly functional, and circular algae derivatives across multiple industries.
The Technology Behind the Transformation and the Impact of Its Methodology
Fermented algae applications to fight diseases on tomato plant
What sets Kybele’s Garden apart in the crowded algae space isn’t just ambition, but its fundamentally different technical approach to unlocking algae’s potential.
Forward Fooding: What makes your ‘advanced combined zero-waste fermentation processes’ unique, and how does it enhance the bioavailability of your algae derivatives?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: Kybele’s Garden develops sustainable, circular, and non-toxic solutions with algae biotechnology and fermentation for agrifood and cosmetics. With a differentiation strategy by co-culture algae biomass fermentation approach, we combine microalgae and macroalgae with selected microbial consortia through a proprietary co-fermentation approach, enabling higher bioavailability, stability, and functional performance compared to conventional algal or microbial products.
We operate primarily in a B2B model, supplying scalable, customizable bioactive raw materials to fertilizer producers, food ingredient manufacturers, and bioactive skincare companies seeking regulatory-compliant, sustainable alternatives. Our core value proposition lies in delivering multi-functional, user-experience-friendly ingredients with sensory performance that are cost-efficient and regulation-ready. These ingredients support soil health, regenerative agriculture, clean-label food innovation, and high-added-value cosmetics solutions while reducing reliance on harsh chemicals and energy-intensive processes.
Our fermentation platform is unique because it combines tailored microbial consortia—selected bacteria and yeasts—with process-level zero-waste design applied to pre-existing algal biomass rather than upstream algae cultivation. This allows us to unlock the full biochemical potential of algae while avoiding resource-intensive production steps. Through controlled fermentation, complex algal macromolecules are biotransformed into lower-molecular-weight, more bioactive compounds, significantly improving bioavailability and functional performance in agriculture, food, and cosmetics. At the same time, all process streams are valorized, eliminating waste and aligning with circular bioeconomy principles.
This technical approach centers on optimizing the cellular structure and composition of algae to maximize nutrient absorption while maintaining cost-effectiveness—a dual focus on functionality and economics that positions the company to compete with traditional chemical ingredients currently dominating these industries.
At a time when sustainability claims often outpace scientific validation, quantifying environmental benefits remains one of biotechnology’s most challenging aspects. For companies working with novel processes like algae fermentation, the temptation to overstate impact can be strong—yet doing so risks credibility and long-term trust.
Forward Fooding: Can you walk us through any key high-level metrics you use to measure the impact that your product/technology is generating, and what the current calculated impact is?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: The approach to measuring impact at Kybele’s Garden reflects our commitment to transparency and scientific rigor. Our CO₂ mitigation methodology is based on estimating avoided emissions rather than claiming direct carbon capture or precise offsets. Our team assesses impact by comparing algae-based fermentation inputs with conventional, often fossil-based or resource-intensive alternatives used in agrifood and cosmetics. The focus is on relative efficiency gains driven by fermentation processes, reduced chemical intensity, and improved functional performance per unit of input.
At this stage, the calculations are indicative and directional, relying on internal process data and secondary literature benchmarks. We intentionally apply conservative assumptions and do not present a single definitive CO₂ reduction figure. Based on pilot-scale and early commercial deployment, current calculations show meaningful CO₂ avoidance per unit of product, with a clear pathway to significantly higher impact as production scales.
As production scales and applications mature, we plan to refine this approach through more detailed, application-specific life cycle assessments. The priority is to ensure transparency and credibility, aligning impact measurement with the actual maturity of the technology—a refreshingly honest approach in an industry sometimes prone to overclaiming environmental benefits.
Strategic Capital Deployment: Building for the Long Term
With a clear technology foundation and proven market validation, Kybele’s Garden has closed pre-seed and seed rounds of 670K USD in total and is now raising a $1 million seed round through the end of April 2026. The capital deployment strategy reveals much about the company’s priorities and discipline.
Forward Fooding: As you enter a new investment round, what is the primary use of the capital you are seeking to raise?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: The primary use of capital is to scale fermentation capacity, support market entry in Europe and MENA, and advance food and cosmetics applications toward commercialization. The funds will be allocated strategically to accelerate Kybele’s Garden’s growth and commercialization roadmap.
The breakdown is deliberate:
- 25% of the investment will be used for technology and infrastructure investments to scale fermentation capabilities and production readiness
- 20% will be dedicated to marketing and customer acquisition to expand market presence and accelerate revenue growth
- 15% will be allocated to R&D and product development to advance algae-based fermentation solutions
- Another 15% will support operational and administrative expenses to ensure efficient day-to-day operations
- 10% will be invested in team expansion and human resources to strengthen technical and commercial capacities
- The remaining funds will be allocated equally—5% each—to consultancy and strategic partnerships, certification and quality management processes, and internationalization activities to support regulatory compliance and global market entry
Forward Fooding: Beyond the check size, what has been the single most valuable form of support from an investor—whether introductions, operational expertise, or patient capital philosophy—and how did you identify they would provide it before closing the deal?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: The most valuable support has been strategic guidance combined with patient capital by the investors who understand the development cycles in cutting-edge biotech to catch the big multipliers. We identified this by assessing investors’ previous portfolio behavior, sector focus, and/or their willingness to engage deeply beyond fundraising conversations.
As a deep-tech, algae and fermentation-driven biotech company, we operates in a space where R&D cycles, regulatory readiness, and customer adoption naturally take time. Having investors who understand this dynamic and support long-term value creation, rather than pushing for premature scaling, has been critical.
Before closing deals, our team identified this patient capital mindset through the investors’ approach during diligence. They asked in-depth questions about the technology roadmap, regulatory pathways, and go-to-market timing rather than focusing solely on short-term financial metrics. Their willingness to stay engaged, provide targeted introductions in Europe and MENA, and remain aligned during inevitable technical iterations signaled a true patient-capital mindset, which has proven far more valuable than capital alone.
Forward Fooding: What key strategic milestones do you aim to achieve with this new round of funding?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: With this new round of funding, Kybele’s Garden aims to achieve a set of clearly defined strategic milestones that de-risk the business technologically, commercially, and operationally, while laying the foundation for international expansion and exports.
On the technology and production side, the primary focus is to increase fermentation throughput through process optimization and targeted infrastructure upgrades, enabling higher batch volumes, improved process stability, and optimized unit production costs. In parallel, the company aims to commercialize its first food and cosmetics-grade ingredients by strengthening downstream processing, quality control, and formulation capabilities.
From a market and commercialization perspective, this round will support the transition from pilot trials to pre-commercial validation and early commercialization, with a focus on securing long-term commercial partnerships and repeat customers. Leveraging the UK subsidiary established in 2024, Kybele’s Garden plans to actively build market presence and export channels across the UK, Europe, and MENA, using these regions as strategic gateways for scaling and international customer engagement.
The commercialization of fermented algae-based ingredients for food and cosmetics, which will go live within this year, sets the stage for 2026 to become a major acceleration year for Kybele’s Garden. As these products transition from production readiness to active market deployment, 2026 will be a critical period focused on business development, customer acquisition, and the conversion of pilot engagements into long-term commercial relationships. This phase will enable the company to scale revenues, deepen customer integration, and strengthen positioning as a reliable fermentation-based ingredient and technology partner in the food and cosmetics value chains across the UK, Europe, and MENA.
In parallel, Kybele’s Garden aims to advance regulatory, certification, and quality management processes required for international market entry—critical to unlocking larger commercial contracts and establishing long-term trust with global partners. Organizationally, the team will expand from 7 to 15 members, along with the advisory network, to support scaled operations, regulatory complexity, and cross-border growth.
Collectively, these milestones are designed to position Kybele’s Garden as a trusted bio-based technology provider and to transition the company from an early-stage biotech into a scalable, market-ready platform aligned with long-term leadership in the agrifood and cosmetics industries.
Forward Fooding: How does your current fundraising strategy align with your long-term vision of becoming a key player in the agrifood and cosmetics industries?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: The fundraising strategy is deliberately structured to support long-term leadership in the agrifood and cosmetics industries rather than short-term valuation growth. Kybele’s Garden seeks partners who support our vision of becoming a long-term, science-driven player delivering bio-based alternatives at an industrial scale. This ensures that short-term growth decisions do not compromise technological integrity or sustainability impact.
We are building a fermentation-driven algae biotechnology platform that requires disciplined capital deployment across R&D, regulatory readiness, and industrial-scale validation. Fundraising milestones are therefore aligned with technology de-risking, product-market fit across multiple verticals, and repeatable commercialization—not rapid and capital-intensive expansion.
At this stage, we prioritize strategic and patient capital that enables us to strengthen core fermentation and bioprocessing capabilities, advance regulatory and certification pathways in Europe and MENA, scale production infrastructure in a capital-efficient manner, and build long-term commercial partnerships with agrifood and cosmetics players.
Rather than raising large rounds prematurely, we structure funding to coincide with clear technical and commercial inflection points. This approach preserves optionality, protects equity, and ensures that each funding round directly contributes to the vision of becoming a trusted, sustainable ingredient and technology partner in global agrifood and cosmetics value chains. In the long term, this disciplined strategy positions Kybele’s Garden not just as a product company but as a platform player capable of delivering differentiated bio-based solutions across industries.
Navigating the Scaling Challenge: From Earthshot Nomination to Industrial Reality
Kybele’s Garden Team
The algae biotechnology space is littered with companies that promised transformation but stumbled on the path to scale. Kybele’s Garden’s recognition and strategic approach suggest they’ve learned these lessons well.
Forward Fooding: Kybele’s Garden has been nominated for the Earthshot Prize. In another interview, you mentioned that winning this would help you scale your technology and grow your team. What are the key steps in your scaling plan, and what are the primary challenges you anticipate?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: Kybele’s Garden’s nomination for the Earthshot Prize in 2025 by the Royal Academy of Engineering—being the first company from Türkiye to achieve this—has significantly validated our technology, impact, and scaling vision. The scaling plan is designed to be step-by-step and risk-aware, reflecting the realities of deep-tech biotechnology rather than rapid, linear expansion.
The key steps focus on a disciplined and modular approach. The company aims to incrementally increase fermentation capacity through process optimization and targeted infrastructure upgrades, avoiding single-step scale jumps that could introduce technical risk. In parallel, we are strengthening downstream processing, quality control, and formulation capabilities to meet agrifood and cosmetics-grade requirements. Advancing regulatory and certification readiness to enable broader market access across Europe and MENA is also critical. Alongside these efforts, our team plans to expand in a targeted manner, with a focus on bioprocess engineering, regulatory expertise, and commercial execution to support sustainable and efficient growth.
The primary challenges we anticipate relate to maintaining process stability and product consistency during scale-up, managing capital efficiency while increasing capacity, and aligning production expansion with validated market demand. Additionally, navigating regulatory timelines and ensuring supply chain reliability for algal biomass inputs are critical considerations. The Earthshot nomination has reinforced our commitment to responsible scaling by prioritizing technological robustness, cost efficiency, and long-term impact over rapid but fragile growth.
Forward Fooding: You mentioned increasing fermentation capacity. What specific technical or logistical hurdles do you need to overcome to achieve this, and how will it impact your production costs?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: Increasing fermentation capacity involves both technical optimization and logistical scaling challenges, each with a direct impact on production costs.
On the technical side, the primary hurdles include maintaining standardized process stability and product consistency as we scale from pilot to industrial, larger volumes. Fermentation of algae-derived biomass using selected bacteria and yeasts is highly sensitive to parameters such as oxygen transfer, mixing efficiency, nutrient availability, and microbial balance. Scaling requires precise bioprocess control, strain performance validation at higher volumes, and robust downstream processing to ensure batch-to-batch reproducibility without compromising bioactive functionality.
From a logistical perspective, challenges include securing reliable, quality-consistent, sustainable algal biomass inputs, adapting fermentation infrastructure to higher volumes without linear cost increases, and integrating downstream steps—such as separation, stabilization, and formulation—into a more continuous and efficient workflow. Facility layout, utilities capacity, and compliance with food and cosmetics-grade production standards are also critical considerations.
Successfully overcoming these hurdles will significantly improve the cost structure. Higher fermentation capacity enables economies of scale by reducing unit costs through better equipment utilization, lower labor costs per unit, and optimized energy and raw material consumption. Additionally, improved process yields and reduced batch failures directly lower the cost of goods sold, allowing Kybele’s Garden to price competitively while preserving healthy margins.
Forward Fooding: Given that scaling is a major challenge in biotech, what are the key performance indicators you are using to manage your ‘step-by-step’ scaling strategy, and what is your current production capacity?
Aygen Savaş Alkan: Given the inherent risks of rapid scaling in biotechnology, Kybele’s Garden follows a step-by-step scaling strategy guided by clearly defined technical, operational, and commercial key performance indicators. This disciplined approach ensures that growth is driven by process robustness, market validation, and capital efficiency rather than rapid volume expansion.
On the technical side, the company monitors fermentation yield per batch, conversion efficiency, batch-to-batch consistency of key bioactive parameters, process stability over extended production runs, and contamination or batch failure rates. These indicators allow us to scale fermentation volumes without compromising product performance, reproducibility, or functional integrity.
Operational KPIs focus on fermentation cycle time, equipment utilization, energy and water consumption per unit output, and downstream processing recovery rates. Tracking these metrics enables early identification of bottlenecks and continuous improvement in resource efficiency as capacity increases.
From a commercial and regulatory perspective, we closely track the cost of goods sold, gross profit margin evolution across different production scales, customer reorder frequency, and performance validation feedback from agrifood and cosmetics applications. This ensures that scaling remains market-driven and aligned with real customer demand rather than purely capacity-led.
In terms of production capacity, we currently operate at pilot-to-early commercial scale for our fermentation-based processes. In parallel, through strategic collaborations in the agriculture vertical, we have already scaled to an annual production capacity of approximately 500 tons since 2024, enabling us to serve customers at scale while continuing to validate and expand the core fermentation platform. Capacity expansion on the fermentation side is designed in modular increments, allowing throughput to increase in line with validated demand and technical readiness.
This KPI-driven, modular scaling model—rather than disruptive capital jumps—enables Kybele’s Garden to manage technical risk, preserve product quality, and build a solid foundation for long-term industrial growth across agrifood and cosmetics markets.
The Road Ahead: From Turkish Pioneer to Global Platform
Kybele’s Garden recognizes that reshaping industrial ingredient markets requires collaboration with established players who can integrate algae-based alternatives into existing supply chains. Strategic partnerships aren’t just nice-to-have—they’re the primary vehicle for validating technology, achieving market penetration, and ultimately delivering on the vision of replacing unsustainable chemical ingredients at scale.
The company is now looking forward to its next phase, which involves the parallel expansion of both production capacity and human resources, reflecting a balanced approach to scaling that avoids the pitfalls that have claimed previous biotech ventures. The focus remains on strengthening the team with bioprocess engineering, regulatory expertise, and commercial execution capabilities necessary for effective market penetration.
Forward Fooding: Let’s finish off with a bang: imagine it’s 10 years from now and your company has fully achieved its original vision. Describe the one headline you would be most proud to read about the impact your company has generated.
Aygen Savaş Alkan: We want to see the complete circular, regenerative, and impactful job we created that affected the three most important industries in the world, for us and the planet.
This vision represents more than business growth—it describes a fundamental shift toward sustainable, bioavailable ingredients that can replace chemical alternatives across agriculture, food, and cosmetics. With the commercialization of food and cosmetics-grade ingredients launching this year and 2026 positioned as a major acceleration phase, Kybele’s Garden is methodically building toward that headline. Their approach—combining cutting-edge co-fermentation technology, disciplined capital deployment, KPI-driven scaling, and patient investors who understand deep-tech timelines—positions them to avoid the pitfalls that have historically challenged algae ventures while building toward a circular, regenerative ingredient ecosystem.
Visit kybelesgarden.com to explore collaboration opportunities.
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