Leading flavoring and specialty natural ingredient company Frutarom has invested in algae in a bid to enhance its cosmetics and food products with the purchase of half of a biotech company called Algalo.

Capitalizing on the trend for natural, marine-based ingredients in cosmetics products, Frutarom will invest 10 million shekels ($2.56 million) into 50 percent of Algalo shares, which is a business model based on a kibbutz or communal farm in Israel. The kibbutz has established a way in which to cultivate, harvest and process algae effectively.

Frutarom Chief Executive Ori Yehudai said, “We foresee the rapid growth in this market continuing in coming years in light of consumer trends towards healthier and more natural products.”

Indeed, such is the pull of the market that it has recorded double digit growth in recent years, making it worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

As part of the investment, Frutarom will build a modern biotechnology facility for algae harvesting.