Peterborough start-up Noblegen Inc. (previously Noble Tech Inc.) has announced it will be using $5.5 million in recently raised private equity to build the largest production facility of its kind in North America.
Noblegen — currently valued at $50 million — will use the financing by scaling up the company’s pilot production facility in Peterborough to a first-generation manufacturing plant. The expansion is necessary to help the company meet the growing demand for its products.
The plant, expected to be operational in early 2017, will create 15 new jobs — bringing to 33 the total number of people employed by Noblegen.
The first-generation facility will produce large amounts of biomass that will be processed for applications in the food and beverage industry and “nutraceuticals” (such as omega oils, antioxidants, and vitamins). The company is currently in negotiations with several multinational customers.
Noblegen expects to close an additional $2 million in private equity financing at the end of October 2016 to further support its expansion plans.
The first-generation facility will bridge the company’s production needs until the completion in 2018 of a larger second-generation facility at the Trent Research and Innovation Park, originally announced in February 2016.
Noblegen researches, cultivates, and markets unique microalgae strains and their derivatives for various market applications. Noblegen’s biomaterials and biochemicals are used for a wide range of market applications from food and beverage ingredients and pharmaceuticals to water purification.
The company was founded on groundbreaking research by CEO Adam Noble while he was still in high school in Lakefield.
Noble has since garnered international recognition for his algae research, including the gold medal at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh in May 2012 and a Top 20 Under 20 award from Youth in Motion in June 2014. He remains the highest awarded youth scientist in Canadian history.
For more information about Noblegen, visit www.noblegen.com.
