To firm’ s founder

Farming

Mr Martin said: “We identified a number of strains we could work with and we have been working to optimise that.

“That is a process we will never stop. We will remain an R&D company at heart. From our side it is about R&D, not so much going out and finding customers who love eating algae. It is much easier for us to sell to big companies that put it into feed.”

The company is not yet at this stage, although it is well on the way. And although the recent summer’s drought raised concerns about feed for land animals, Mr Martin says the “pull” for his algae food is the fish farming sector.

For farmed salmon in particular to maintain levels of omega3 for consumers, the fish must be fed a diet rich in the essential fatty acid.

Globally, the industry relies on fishmeal and fishoil sourced from pelagic fish. And while current demand for fish to feed aquaculture worldwide is thought to be sustainable, there are concerns about overfishing, especially in areas of the world where regulation can be weaker.

Likewise, demand is rising as the sector grows.

In Scotland, aquaculture, which is largely dominated by fish farming, is worth £1.8 billion per year. The Scottish Government predicts this could double to £3.6 billion or more by 2030, supporting 18,000 jobs.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Enterprise said: “We have supported MiAlgae since the early stages of its development. The funding announced in June will allow high-value R&D employment opportunities to be created in rural Scotland.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the company and its management team to support their growth ambitions.”

“We will remain an R&D company at heart”

Scottish EDGE winners Douglas Martin and Shreekanth Ramanthan of MiAlgae with Fiona Hyslop MSP

The whisky industry’s pot ale – a waste product of the distillation process – is the starting point for MiAlgae’s work