How Intrinsic Foundries Is Turning Algae

Intrinsic Foundries was founded in 2023 by Shreyansh Jain, Sanjay Jain, and Umang Jain with a thesis that algae-based CCUS platforms could solve the cost and complexity problems that have held back conventional carbon capture technology.

Shreyansh Jain's path to algae was anything but direct. A pharmacology graduate from BITS Pilani, he went on to study chemical engineering at Imperial College London and Cornell University, then spent a decade in cell therapy and gene therapy at global pharma companies including Japanese giant Takeda. That work brought him close to concepts like PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals that persist in the environment, and introduced him to the mechanics of CCUS.

The seeds of Intrinsic Foundries were planted at an earlier startup Jain had founded, focused on smart factories and industrial automation. His customers kept running into the same wall: emissions and waste streams they could not deal with efficiently. He began applying his background in carbon capture to the problem.

The algae connection came through conversations with researchers working in the same space. Photosynthetic microbes absorb carbon dioxide the way trees do, but algae grow far faster and process carbon far more efficiently. More importantly, algae do not just scrub carbon from the air. They use it as nutrition, converting it into biomass that can then be refined into valuable biological molecules. Unlike common microbes used in biomanufacturing like E. coli and yeast, algae can produce far more complex molecules, including biomaterials with real commercial value.

"You can't overlook the growing demand for CCUS," Jain says.

The global CCUS market, currently worth $2.97 Bn, is expected to grow at 8% annually to reach $6.17 Bn by 2033. India's Finance Minister has earmarked up to Rs 20,000 Cr to scale up CCUS technologies, with a national target of capturing 750 Mn tonnes of carbon dioxide from industries like steel, cement, and chemicals by 2050.

Large players like Reliance and TotalEnergies have been working on algae-based systems for years without significant commercial success. Jain's view is that they were thinking about algae too narrowly, treating it as a means to produce commodity fuels rather than exploring its more diverse applications.

Intrinsic Foundries has taken a different approach, both in strategy and in engineering.

The company has developed two CCUS platforms designed for different types of waste streams. The first targets industrial flue gas emissions using phototrophic algae, which produce their own food through photosynthesis. The second addresses effluents and wastewater using heterotrophic algae that grow in the dark and feed on carbon compounds. Both platforms draw from a proprietary library of engineered algae strains optimised for maximum carbon utilisation.

The more distinctive innovation is in how the algae are grown. Instead of open ponds, which are the traditional and problematic approach, Intrinsic has developed a proprietary extrusion system that produces 3D-printed hollow tubular photobioreactors. This dramatically reduces the space requirement and solves a cluster of engineering problems that have plagued open-pond systems: contamination, evaporation, water loss, and inconsistent growing conditions.

The setup requires minimal existing infrastructure at a project site. All that is needed is a connection to the carbon dioxide source, a flue gas line or chimney. From there, the algae biomass is cultivated, harvested, and converted into valuable biochemicals including gamma-linolenic acid, an ingredient used in premium cosmetics, and Omega-3 fatty acids. The company plans to expand its output to include biopigments, protein isolates, enzymes, and fertilisers.

The business logic behind Intrinsic Foundries is as important as the science.

Most CCUS solutions ask industrial companies to spend money on compliance without offering anything in return. Intrinsic's pitch flips that framing entirely.

"The industry is paying money to get rid of carbon. Our intention is to make them understand that this is not a cost centre, but a resource that can be used to create value," Jain says.

That reframing is made more urgent by regulatory pressure. The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism taxes imported products based on the carbon emissions from their production, raising the financial stakes for manufacturers that have not decarbonised. Green finance initiatives including India's sustainability-linked bonds are also lowering the cost of capital for climate-aligned projects, creating additional incentives beyond mere compliance.

Intrinsic offers two commercial models to its customers. The first is a buyback arrangement, where Intrinsic sets up its CCUS platform on-site under a cost-sharing model, charges an operating fee, and then pays the customer for the harvested biomass, which it refines and sells as biochemicals. The second is an end-to-end licensing model for companies that want deeper involvement in the value chain, where the customer pays Intrinsic to refine and commercialise the molecules directly.

Intrinsic has completed a major industrial pilot in collaboration with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research at one of India's largest power plants. The company claims its system captured 85 to 90% of carbon dioxide emissions from the flue gas stream and cultivated 3 kg of biomass in the process.

It has also completed research projects with multiple IITs and institutions in the US and Germany, with pilot sites spanning steel, cement, and chemical plants. Nine to ten more projects are currently in the pipeline.

In February, the company raised Rs 12 Cr in seed funding from Transition VC to expand its research activities, conduct more commercial pilots, and grow its team. It has also been part of incubator programmes run by IIM Ahmedabad and Shell.

Jain declined to share specific revenue figures, describing the business as being at early commercial scale.

"As a deeptech company, it takes time to scale up and revenue is not a real marker at this stage. When we speak to global investors, they generally focus on our IP, rather than our revenue," he says.