$2.3 million for new U of A agricultural spin-off company
Edmonton, AB -- Alberta farmers could have a significant new avenue to capture value from crops such as oats and barley as Cevena Bioproducts Inc., the University of Alberta's newest spin-off company announced today, grows.
Backed by a $2.3 million investment from industry partners - AVAC Ltd. (Calgary) and Foragen Technologies LP (Saskatoon) - Cevena has begun work to scale-up a new technology developed by University of Alberta professors Feral Temelli and Thava Vasanthan.
The technology is a new process to fractionate cereal grains, yielding high value components such as beta-glucan, a naturally-occurring dietary fibre. The current demand for purified beta-glucan as an ingredient in food and health applications is limited by its high cost, so inventors Temelli and Vasanthan developed the fractionation process to be cost-effective. Other products of the process, such as starch concentrate also have high-value applications.
Vasanthan and Temelli’s collaboration at the University, funded by the Alberta Agricultural Research Institute and the Alberta Barley Commission, has been driven by a desire to create new opportunities for Alberta’s farmers. Once fully commercialized, the fractionation process is envisioned to open higher value markets as an alternative to the commodity markets where grains have traditionally been sold.
AVAC is an Alberta-based not-for-profit private company that invests in innovative ideas that add value to agricultural commodities. Foragen is a Canadian venture capital company providing seed capital, management advice and networking opportunities to develop promising new agricultural technologies to a commercial level.
For more information:
Universitiy contacts;
Prof. Thava Vasanthan, Dept. of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, 780-492-2898
Cynthia Strawson, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics, 780-492-8127
Roger Armstrong, Office of Public Affairs, 780-492-0437
Foragen Technologies Management Inc.
Armand Lavoie,Saskatoon 1-306-651-1066
Murray Mclaughlin, Guelph 1-519-824-7923
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