Products Summary
C-Combinator is harnessing the
potential of seaweed to address
the global demand for food, feed, fertilizer and
advanced materials, while drawing down carbon and
restoring life in the oceans. The strategy is two-pronged:
One: Harvest and process Caribbean sargassum into
the valuable products below using their proprietary
extraction processes; and Two: in a few years utilize
as well C-Combinator’s patent-pending marine
permaculture technology to grow their own kelp
seaweed at scale and apply these same extraction
processes to that seaweed.
Sargassum is a brown seaweed that grows on the
surface of the ocean and can form large “rafts” which are
beneficial to sea-life in the open ocean, but become an
environmental disaster to coastal nations that depend
on tourism when it accumulates in large volume on the
beaches and rots, killing sea life and repelling tourists.
By contrast, kelp is one of the world’s fastest growing
plants. It can grow up to two feet per day and up to 70
feet long, and is often called the “rainforest of the sea”.
Following its target investment schedule,
C-Combinator plans to produce 250 kilotons (kT) of
sargassum and 700 kT of kelp per year by 2029. Both
types of seaweed are technically macroalgae and can
be processed to produce biostimulants, nanocellulose,
alginates, hydrogels, aerogels, and fucoidans. The
market potential for these products is enormous.
Product Uses and Market
Potential: Summary
Product Common Uses
Biostimulants Agricultural crop yield enhancement
Nanocellulose Paper & cardboard, windows, stress-detecting sensors for
bridges, food thickener, cosmetics, hygiene products, vehicles
Alginates Bioplastics, pharmaceutical use, dental molds,
food thickeners
Hydrogels Wound dressings, pharmaceutical drugs, contact lenses
Aerogels Insulation for oil/gas industry, construction, clothing
Fucoidans Over the counter drugs/supplements
Biostimulants
As defined by the European Biostimulants
Industry Council, biostimulants contain
“substance(s) and/or micro-organisms whose
function when applied to plants or the rhizosphere
is to stimulate natural processes to enhance/
benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient efficiency,
tolerance to abiotic stress, and crop quality.”
Benefits and Applications: Biostimulants provide
a valuable alternative to fertilizers, because
they can significantly improve crop yields while
avoiding the negative impacts—including water
pollution, air pollution, and decreased soil quality—
associated with fertilizers that contain nitrogen,
phosphorus, potassium, and other trace molecules.
Seaweeds have long been used for fertilizers
since they contain these organic elements, but
recently their extracts were found to have potent
biostimulant effects as well. Biostimulants also
have been shown to provide resistance to disease,
pests, drought, and frost.
Production: C-Combinator uses a screw
press to extract biostimulants from seaweed.
Biostimulants make up about 54% of sargassum
and one ton of sargassum can produce $540 of
biostimulants. The production potential is similar
for kelp.
Market: The market size for biostimulants is
currently $2.6 billion and is predicted to grow
by 11.24% annually, reaching $4.9 billion by 2025.
Seaweed extracts account for 33% of the
current market.
Market Potential 2020 2025 CAGR*
$2.6B $4.9B 11.24%
$297M $783M 21.3%
$409.2M $529.2M 4.0%
$11.43B $15.33B 6.04%
$453M $785.4M 11.6%
$30M $36M 2.9%
* Compound Annual Growth Rate
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 Products Summary
Nanocellulose
Nanocellulose is a pseudoplastic composed of
nanofibrils of cellulose—the stiff organic compound
that makes up cell walls.
Benefits and Applications: Nanocellulose is
lightweight and stiffer than Kevlar, has eight times the
tensile strength of steel, and is non-toxic, electrically
conductive, and transparent. It has a wide range of
applications: It can be used to strengthen paper and
cardboard and make them more water resistant, to
thicken or carry flavor in food, and to create windows
and stress-detecting sensors for bridges. It can be
used in tampons, napkins, and antimicrobial films, and
as a composite coating agent in cosmetic products.
Finally, nanocellulose has been demonstrated to be
an extremely strong and light-weight material for use
in vehicles, enabling boats to support 1000 times their
weight and reducing passenger car weight by up to 30%.
Production: Nanocellulose has traditionally been
obtained from wood pulp, but this process is extremely
time-consuming and expensive. A recently developed
technique to derive nanocellulose from seaweed, using
tangential membrane flow, is far quicker and can be
done at less than a tenth of the cost. Nanocellulose
makes up about 1.2% of sargassum and one ton of
sargassum could produce $600 of nanocellulose. The
production potential is similar for kelp.
Market: The market for nanocellulose is valued at $297
million and is expected to reach $783 million in the next
five years. Most of the expected short-term growth is
in the pulp and paper manufacturing sector, which
accounts for the vast majority of the current market.
However, in the long run any number of markets could
significantly increase nanocellulose demand.
Alginate
Alginate, or alginic acid, is a compound found in the
cell walls of seaweed.
Benefits and Applications: One of the most
promising uses of alginate is to produce bioplastics.
Alginate can be used to create a plastic-like substance
that is biodegradable as well as edible; replacing
current plastics with alginate-based bioplastics is
a promising solution to the global plastics problem.
Because alginates can hold up to 300 times their
weight in water, they also are an extremely potent
gelling substance and can be combined with different
amounts of water to create a gum paste for use in
casting, thickening, and pharmaceutical applications.
Alginates are also commonly used by dentists to
create molds for teeth, and as thickeners for ice cream,
jelly, instant noodles, beer, dressing, and dairy drinks.
Production: C-Combinator is ready to produce
alginate. To extract both alginate and cellulose for use,
the two products must be separated using dialysis.
The alginate is then converted into sodium alginate
which is the usable form of the substance. Alginate
makes up about 2% of sargassum and one ton of
sargassum could produce about $300 of alginate. The
production potential is similar for kelp.
Market: The market for alginate is currently valued at
$409.2 million and is expected to reach $529.2 million
by 2025. Dentistry and food products account for most
of that market.
Hydrogels
Hydrogels are networks of polymer chains that are
extremely hydrophilic, causing them to swell with
water and hold it there, becoming more than 90%
water.
Benefits and Applications: Hydrogels are commonly
used for wound dressings because they can keep
wounds wet; this helps wounds heal faster, prevents
infection, and reduces pain and tissue damage during
dressing changes. Hydrogels can also be infused
with other compounds to help treat specific types of
wounds, such as aloe for burns. The swelling capability
of hydrogels also makes them ideal for drug delivery.
When a hydrogel-based pill is taken, the hydrogel
slowly swells with water as it travels through the
body, until the gaps in the polymer are big enough for
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 Products Summary

the drug to escape and enter the body. This makes Market: The current aerogel market is valued at
it especially useful for drugs which need to target $453 million but is growing rapidly and is expected
specific parts of the body. Finally, hydrogels are to reach $785.4 million by 2025.
optimal materials for contact lenses because they are
non-abrasive.
Fucoidans
Production: The process used to extract hydrogels
from seaweed is still being developed by Fucoidans are complex polysaccharides found in
C-Combinator and is expected to be finalized by the most species of brown seaweed.
end of the year. Hydrogels make up about 12% of
Benefits and Applications: Fucoidans are used
sargassum and one ton of sargassum could produce
to produce over-the-counter superdrugs. They
about $2,100 of hydrogels. The production potential
have been shown to boost the immune system,
is similar for kelp.
reduce inflammation, prevent blood clots, and
Market: The hydrogel market is enormous and even reduce risk of cancer.
rapidly growing, currently valued at $11.43 billion
Production: C-Combinator expects to be ready
and expected to reach $15.33 billion in five years.
to extract fucoidans from seaweed in two years.
While the hydrogel market has traditionally been
Fucoidans make up about 1.2% of sargassum and
dominated by synthetic hydrogels, which are
one ton of sargassum could produce about $500
cheap and easy to produce, the growing demand
of fucoidans. The production potential is similar
for sustainably sourced products may create new
for kelp.
demand for seaweed hydrogels.
Market: Japan has provided the central market for
fucoidans, but demand is growing throughout the
Aerogels world. The current market for fucoidans is valued
Aerogels are very porous, solid foams that have high at $30 million and is expected to reach $35 million
connectivity among branched structures. by 2025. Seaweed is the source of all fucoidans,
and the market is supply constrained—i.e., there is
Benefits and Applications: Whereas hydrogels are unmet demand.
composed of 90% water, the composition of aerogels
is over 99% air. This makes them extremely light,
only three times the weight of air, and gives them
their most useful property: Aerogels are extremely
effective insulators. In fact, aerogels are the world’s
most effective insulator and the 3rd lightest solid
known to man. Aerogels are quickly becoming must-
have insulators in the oil and gas industry as well as
the construction industry. Additional promising uses
include insulating clothing.
Production: The technology to create aerogels from
seaweed is still in development and is likely to be
market-ready in 2021. If they prove to be relatively
cheap, seaweed-based aerogels could eventually
dominate the aerogel market, since traditional silica
aerogels are very expensive to produce. Aerogels
make up about 9.6% of sargassum and one ton of
sargassum could produce $1,920 of aerogels. The
production potential is similar for kelp.

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