Zaara Biotech, Kerala-based startup scores $10 Mn from UAE’s TCN International

Featured image: Najeeb Bin Haneef, Founder & CEO of Zaara Biotech; Credits: Arabian Business

LAFFAZ Media
LAFFAZ Media

Kerala, India-based Zaara Biotech, a student biotech startup fostered via the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre scheme by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM); on Sunday, announced that it has raised an investment of $10 million from the UAE-based TCN International Commerce LLC for its project, entitled “Algae-Seaweed Technology”, under the brand called “B-lite Cookies”.

Najeeb Bin Haneef, Founder & CEO of Zaara Biotech, and Mohamed Shafi Abdulla, Chairman and Managing Director, TCN International Commerce LLC, signed an MoU in Sharjah.

The startup was founded by Haneef when he was a biotechnology engineering student of Sahrdaya College of Engineering and Technology in 2016. Zaara was showcased at the GITEX 2020 international conference held in Dubai in October 2020, as the startup was part of the international startup delegation led by KSUM.

Zaara Biotech, which focuses on research in energy and food crisis using micro-algae, got the funding for its research and development, production, distribution and marketing under TCN International Commerce to reach the global arena.

The biotech startup, which was incubated in Sahrdaya Technology Business Incubator, has collaboration with CIFT and it has helped the company to become India’s first algal-seaweed food product designer.

The team of Zaara had set up a ‘Mushroom Hub’ during their first year at the campus before foraying into their entrepreneurial venture. By designing photo-bioreactors using micro-algae.

Editor’s Note

The deal between India’s Zaara Biotech and UAE’s TCN International Commerce LLC marks another story reflecting an ever-booming India-UAE startup ecosystem relationship. Keeping all such cases of India to MENA startup expansions, we at LAFFAZ, took the liberty to launch INDO-MENA Corridor, an integrator focused on Indian and MENA (Middle East & North Africa) startup ecosystems – connecting tech startups with potential investors, and advisors through a seamless application process accompanied with knowledge-sharing delivered through virtual events hosted by LAFFAZ.


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Editorial Staff
Editorial Staff

The Editorial Staff at LAFFAZ encompasses fandoms of startup culture, crazy researchers, data analysts and writers who decrypt strenuous information into graspable news, produce noteworthy features and compelling stories.

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