Microalgae such as spirulina are rich in protein and pigments, but growing them cheaply and cleanly at scale is hard. Arborea, founded by Julian Melchiorri, grows them in the BioSolar Leaf: flat, transparent panels in which algae photosynthesise, capturing CO₂ from the air or from industrial emissions. The company operates from London and from Moita, near Lisbon, where its Portuguese company, Arboreabiofoods, won the EIC award.
The European Innovation Council granted €2,348,873 towards a €3.36 million project to take the technology to large-scale cultivation for food ingredients. It delivered a working 100 m² facility, run for more than a year. Arborea now sells spirulina, a blue colourant and functional proteins. Its UK company, meanwhile, has seen its board shrink: four directors, including a Portuguese venture investor, left in 2026.
Company file
- Beneficiary
- Arboreabiofoods LDA, Moita, Portugal (VAT PT516134787)
- UK company
- Arborea Ltd, Companies House 09468987, incorporated March 2015, active
- Founder and CEO
- Julian Melchiorri
- Products
- Ultra Pure Spirulina, Pure Blue colourant, functional proteins
- Projects
- AB InBev CO₂ valorisation (Mexico); Imperial College air purification pilot; V&A chandelier
- Control (UK)
- Majority shareholder is an individual holding 50% to 75%, per Companies House
- EIC project
- Biosolar Leaf, 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2023, closed
- EIC funding
- Grant first
Where Arborea Stands Today
Arborea's website lists its two bases, in Moita and at the Translation & Innovation Hub in London, about 30 staff, and three product lines. It highlights a CO₂ valorisation project with AB InBev in Mexico, capturing brewing emissions with BioSolar Leaf, an air purification pilot with Imperial College London, and an algae "chandelier" in the permanent collection of the V&A museum.
The UK filings for Arborea Ltd tell a less settled story. The company issued new shares in 2024, when the Portuguese venture firm Indico Capital Partners joined the board. Indico's directorship ended in March 2026, the company adopted new articles in April 2026, and on 10 August 2026 three more directors resigned. Its latest accounts, for 2024, were filed as small-company accounts and do not publish revenue. Companies House lists an individual, born in 1987, as holding 50% to 75% of the shares.
The Technology: Algae in a Leaf
Conventional microalgae farms use open ponds or tubes. Arborea's BioSolar Leaf is a modular panel system that, per the CORDIS report, "yields better productivities than the alternative technologies available, at a lower cost and with carbon neutrality". The project developed several food ingredients, replacements for existing products at lower cost and higher quality, and one novel ingredient the company intends to disrupt its market with. The report does not publish productivity or cost figures.
"Accelerating the transition to sustainable food."
Arborea, company mission statementWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The project ran from January 2022 to December 2023 and aimed to disrupt the food ingredient and protein markets with large-scale algae cultivation. CORDIS reports "a 100m2 BioSolar Leaf fully functional facility" and "a successful field trial of the demonstration facility for a period longer than 12 months". A 100 m² demonstration is a step, not large scale; the report does not describe a commercial plant.
- A working demonstration facilityDelivered100 m², run for more than 12 months.
- Food ingredientsDeliveredSpirulina, blue colourant and proteins on the website.
- Large-scale cultivationNot shownNo commercial-scale plant reported.
- Published cost and productivityNot shownClaims made without figures.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
In December 2024 Arborea raised €5 million in a round led by Indico Capital Partners with the Portuguese development bank Banco Português de Fomento, to prepare its first commercial-scale protein facility. In June 2025 founder Julian Melchiorri told AgFunder News that the plant in Portugal would be "operational in 2027", that the company had raised about €17 million in grants and equity in total, and that it had signed joint development agreements with unnamed multinationals. UK filings show resolutions to allot shares in January 2024 and January 2025, and a share allotment in June 2024, when Indico Capital Partners took a board seat. The EIC award was "grant first", under which any EIC equity is decided later, and we found no EIC Fund investment. Portuguese company accounts for Arboreabiofoods are not freely available online.
What cannot be checked
Arborea's revenue, whether the Portuguese plant is on track for 2027, why its directors left in 2026, and how the Portuguese and UK companies are related are not in the public record we could access.
Why Europe Should Care
Europe is looking for new protein sources and natural ingredients. Algae grown in modular facilities on non-farm land could supply some of both, and the EIC funded a Portuguese facility to prove it.
What the project promised
Large-scale microalgae cultivation to disrupt the food ingredient and protein markets.
What the record shows
A 100 m² demonstration facility, products on offer and brand-name pilots, then board departures and no published figures.
The Verdict
A demonstration, not yet a food business
The EIC project delivered a working demonstration and a set of ingredients. What it did not deliver, and what Arborea has not yet shown publicly, is cultivation at the scale that would move the protein market. The board changes of 2026 have not been explained publicly, and without published revenue the public cannot judge the business.
Arborea has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records, company statements and EU project data, linked throughout.
