Provectus Algae Appoints Mark Livings, CEO of Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits Co to Advisory Board, Positioning Company for Growth in Food and Beverage Market

Provectus Algae (Provectus), an Australian biotechnology company specialising in the optimisation of algae to produce high-value compounds for use in a wide array of industries and applications, today appointed Mark Livings, co-founder and CEO of Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits and BrandLink Group, to its Advisory Board. He brings to the role a proven track record of introducing innovative products to market and rapid commercialization in the food and beverage sector.

Provectus will lean on Mr. Livings for his product development knowledge, go-to-market expertise and extensive business and sector network as the company develops dozens of products to create consumer-friendly, natural novel flavorings, texturing ingredients and coloring for high-potential food and beverage sectors, including the fast-growth alternative protein sector. Provectus uses a process known as precision photosynthesis to program and optimize unique microalgae to produce a range of natural products, including highly-valuable or rare specialty ingredients.

The company's product pipeline includes two recombinant proteins developed by the Provectus team along with a suite of natural products in development, one of which already has a commercial agreement with a world-leading food and beverage ingredients supplier. Each of these products fit three market segments of focus including food and beverage, animal health, and agricultural chemicals.

“Mark’s insights into the food and beverage sector will be key to Provectus’ long term growth strategy and our continued expansion in the market,” said Provectus CEO and Founder Nusqe Spanton. “We’re not letting grass grow under our feet as we look to build our network in the European market and around the world. Mark has a unique and qualified perspective having worked extensively in the sector for the last two decades, particularly with the trailblazing success in the non-alcoholic beverage space that will further enhance all aspects of our business development efforts.”

In 2019, Livings founded Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits Co., now the world’s largest, most awarded and valuable non-alcoholic spirit brand globally. Lyre’s is the first brand to achieve a valuation of greater than £100 million ($180m AUD) and capturing over 200 internationally recognized wine and spirits competition medals and securing distribution into more than 45 international markets in less than 24 months. Livings is an award-winning entrepreneur with a lifetime of professional experience including as a Founder of the BrandLink group, one of Australia’s fastest growing businesses and largest independent marketing groups, servicing the marketing needs of the multinational consumer products sector. For almost two decades he has worked with global consumer brands, including Coca-Cola, AB InBev, Ferrero, Moet Hennesey, Reckitt Benckiser, Beiersdorf, Johnson & Johnson, Ferrero and Gruppo Campari.

“I’m happy to serve as an advisor and share my sector insights, financial learnings and business network with this exciting new company as they navigate the nuances and players in the food and beverage space,” said Mr. Livings. “Lyre’s acts as a proof of concept when it comes to moving very quickly to deliver innovative products to new consumers and for entering nascent and alternative markets with speed and force. The pace at which Provectus is growing and the unique solutions they are bringing to market share a number of similarities with the rapid product development and go to market strategy Lyre’s has experienced.”

The Provectus platform enables sustainable production and addresses supply chain challenges by providing end-to-end services from product development to large scale production in microalgae. Since closing its seed round last year, Provectus has been in full swing developing products and engineering their proprietary production systems. To support the company’s current and future production growth, they will be expanding from a pilot facility into a full scale manufacturing facility that will be operational by the end of the year which will allow Provectus to deliver products into their target markets.

ABOUT PROVECTUS ALGAE

Provectus Algae is an Australian biotech company that programs algae to produce the world's most valuable specialty ingredients. By accelerating nature, their team is able to optimise unique microalgae to produce a whole new range of natural products, in a process described as “precision photosynthesis”. Using next-generation techniques the company has also developed a synthetic biology stack that complements and competes with existing production platforms to deliver high-performance and sustainable products.

To learn more, please visit https://provectusalgae.com.