“Success and happiness will only be fulfilled when we have good health.” It was an emerging idea when AlgaeVi first wanted to create a journey towards “healthcare” for the community. Nowadays, AlgaeVi products have been on the market. The brand has cooperated with domestic enterprises and received positive feedbacks from customers.
Beginning with the “green superfood” start-up project
Spirulina has long been crowned as the “green superfood” thanks to its high nutrient content carrying many health benefits. Spirulina contains high levels of proteins, vitamins and minerals, as well as rich in antioxidants which help to improve the immune system, slow down the aging process and prolong life.
In Vietnam, even though the demand for products from spirulina is increasing, there is a shortage of supply due to limited sources of spirulina seeding and primitive production and processing technology. With strengths in scientific research, Dr. Trinh Dang Mau and his students at Faculty of Biology and Environmental Science, The University of Education (Danang University), has begun to develop the protocol to culture Spirulina in an effective way and the name AlgaeVi was also named since then.
The research project on Spirulina of a group of students at Faculty of Biology and Environmental Science, The University of Education (Danang University)
After a time of research, the AlgaeVi’s project of cultivating and producing Spirulina has succeeded in bringing their products to market, mastering the seeding sources as well as transferring this technology to domestic enterprises.
Fulfilling a comprehensive model of Spirulina cultivation and production
Spirulina is a green filamentous micro-algae that grows naturally in oceans and salt lakes in subtropical regions. This algae can develop in both saline and fresh water when properly cultured. Currently, this type of Spirulina mainly originates from Japan.
To have a comprehensive protocol for Spirulina culture and production, it requires complex technologies and high investment costs. The most important thing is how to produce Spirulina in large-scale in artificial conditions to create a large quantity of products but still ensure the quality and reasonable price.
The AlgaeVi team embarked on solving the first and also the most important part, which is to apply molecular biology on selecting and domesticating the algae seedings, helping it to best adapt to the environment. At the same time, they researched and developed the most suitable cultivation technology and algae production model. 207101
The procedure of algae culture was developed by the AlgaeVi group.
Since Spirulina is easily shocked and dead due to sudden changes in habitats, therefore the seeding algae must be cultured and acclimatized first. The research team decided to use a system of algae culture bags with sensors to automatically real-time monitor the quality of culture conditions. The research group has also successfully developed a clean and self-contained culture procedure with a cost of only about 20-25% compared to culturing in tanks but having a double growth rate.
Mr Le Van Kiem, a former student of Faculty of Biology and Environmental Science, representative of the research group shared that: “In order to ensure a self-contained culture system with minimal human supports, we had designed the culture system which is self-contained and automatic with growth meter, algae receiver and washing machine for mechanization on production…This is the most difficult part of the project because there are no available machine on the market, therefore the research team has to research the actual needs, draw up drawings, make trials and install them. After several tests, up to now, the process of producing, harvesting and processing algae has worked quite well.”
The “shield” protecting family’s health
Not only controlling the process of cultivation, propagation and selection of Spirulina varieties, the Algaevi group also researched and developed the algae production and processing system with many product lines such as algae powder, nuggets biscuits and tea, etc. In addition, there are other products in tablets and capsules which are suitable for all children, adults and elders.
Spirulina- “the green superfood” with highly nutritious values.
According to previous studies, the diverse nutritional content in Spirulina is extremely supportive in anti-oxidation, enhancing muscle strength, preventing cardiovascular diseases, cancer and other diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) also recognized that Spirulina is the best food supplement for health care and protection in the 21st century.
Realizing the high nutritional value that Spirulina brings, Dr. Trinh Dang Mau and his students decided to expand the culture model from research scale to mass production scale by cooperating with domestic enterprises across the countries. Dr Mau said that “We chose to start up a business with algae to introduce this valuable source of nutrition into Vietnamese meals. One beautiful morning, suddenly I sat and thought that when will we, Vietnamese people, have algae and seaweed in our daily consumption as a routine like in developed countries?”
The Vietnamese algae AlgaeVi was proud to be a “Make in Vietnam” product.
In 2018, the first trial products of the research group were attended the exhibition of scientific and technical achievements of Da Nang and highly appreciated by experts. After that, they had transferred technologies and instructions of cultivating Spirulina to Van Tuong Hi-tech Agricultural Cooperative (Binh Son- Quang Ngai).
The research group then continued to participate in Quang Nam Innovative Startup Day- TechFest 2021 with a series of AlgaeVi products that attracted visitors thanks to the diversity of products and self-contained culture and production system while ensuring safety and hygiene as well as preserving sweetness and reducing the fishy odor of algae.
Currently, the research group’s project on culturing and producing AlgaeVi products has been officially selected to participate in Danang Hi-tech Park with the goal of incubating and becoming a science and technology enterprise with startup business on innovative and hi-tech production of algae.
The founder is the major contributor in early stages and, in later stages, directs the strategies for the project and makes the most of an individual's strength to push the project forward. A successful startup has an effective team of people, not an individual. “The Vietnamese algae AlgaeVi’s pathway is very clear so far, the problem is how far we can go. We are still pushing it up - finding good people and partners to work with- to make AlgaeVi a comprehensive nutritional food supplement for everyone.” -Dr. Trinh Dang Mau was excited to talk about humanistic startup stories with his students.
Nguyen Thang
