Novella Taps Industry Vet to Commercialize Lab-Grown Botanicals

MODI'IN, Israel – March 10, 2026 – Israeli biotech innovator Novella Innovative Technology is signaling a major shift from research and development to full-scale commercial operations with the appointment of Antonio Martinez Descalzo as its new Chief Executive Officer. The seasoned nutraceutical executive is tasked with leading the company's global expansion and pioneering a new category of ingredients dubbed "Precision Botanicals."

The move marks a pivotal moment for the startup, which aims to disrupt the multi-billion dollar nutraceutical ingredient market with its proprietary AuraCell™ technology—a platform that grows high-value botanical compounds directly from plant cells in controlled bioreactors, bypassing traditional agriculture entirely. With pilot production complete, Novella is gearing up for industrial manufacturing to meet what it sees as a growing global demand for pure, consistent, and sustainable plant-based ingredients.

A New Leader for a New Era

To steer this transition, Novella has brought in a leader with a deep history of scaling health and wellness ingredients on a global stage. Antonio Martinez Descalzo brings over two decades of experience from industry giants, most notably the food and beverage powerhouse ADM. There, he held senior leadership roles including Vice President of Innovation and Business Development Director for its health and wellness division. During his tenure, Martinez was a key architect in promoting branded ingredients across international markets and has extensive experience in the specialty ingredients and probiotics sectors, having also served on the Board of Directors for the International Probiotics Association (IPA).

His appointment is a clear strategic move to leverage commercial expertise as the company's technology matures. "2026 marks a pivotal operational year for Novella," stated Kobi Avidan, Chairman and co-founder. "Having successfully completed pilot production, we are moving into full industrial manufacturing... Martinez's combined background as a seasoned nutraceutical expert and global commercial strategist makes him the ideal leader to steer Novella toward becoming a commercial powerhouse."

Redefining Botanicals with AuraCell™

At the heart of Novella's strategy is its AuraCell™ technology. This precision-cultivation platform sidesteps the fields and farms typically associated with botanical sourcing. Instead, the company identifies the most potent tissues in a plant—be it from the fruit, leaf, or stem—and cultivates those cells in a sterile, controlled lab environment. This process yields a pure, whole-cell powder that preserves the plant's full spectrum of bioactive compounds, such as antioxidant phenolic acids, without the need for chemical extraction.

The result is an ingredient with guaranteed consistency and potency, free from pesticides, heavy metals, and other environmental contaminants that can plague agricultural supply chains. Last year, the company launched its first creation, Novella Strawberry, a potent whole-cell ingredient that is now available for industrial sampling.

With this technology, Martinez is introducing what he calls a new category for the industry. "We're introducing the new category of 'Precision Botanicals' into the nutraceutical space," Martinez declared. "It's a sustainable channel that will deliver fully standardized botanical ingredients at consistent volumes in line with regulatory and consumer requirements."

While the concept of using plant cell culture is not entirely new—it has been successfully used for decades to produce high-value compounds for the pharmaceutical industry, including cancer treatments—its application in the nutraceutical space at an industrial scale represents a significant leap forward.

Building a Climate-Proof Supply Chain

The introduction of Precision Botanicals aims to solve some of the most persistent challenges in the nutraceutical industry. Traditional botanical supply chains are notoriously fragile, subject to climate change, unpredictable weather, political instability, and disease, all of which lead to price volatility and inconsistent quality.

Novella’s indoor, soil-free cultivation method offers a resilient alternative. The company claims its process slashes resource use—including land and water—by up to 99% compared to conventional farming. By producing ingredients locally in bioreactors, it also shortens the supply chain, reduces waste to nearly zero, and ensures full traceability from cell to final product.

This approach directly addresses the growing consumer and regulatory demand for sustainable and ethically sourced ingredients. "Novella's breakthrough technology reinforces the fragile supply chains for botanical extracts, which are seeing a reemergence in demand for their potent antioxidant power and relevance to broad wellness channels," Martinez explained. "This will also bring more price stability via protection from global climate fluctuations."

Strategic Partnerships for Global Scale

Bringing this technology to market at a global scale requires a robust operational playbook. Rather than investing heavily in building its own capital-intensive facilities, Novella is employing a lean, partnership-driven model. The company has forged a key strategic contract-manufacturing agreement with Chemo Biosynthesis, Srl, the industrial division of Insud Pharma Group. Chemo is integrating Novella's technology into its state-of-the-art facilities in Italy, providing the capacity to produce tons of Novella Strawberry to pharmaceutical-grade standards.

"Beyond the advantages of having a lean production model that does not require capital-intensive facility build-outs, this approach enables the production of natural ingredients at volume with pharmaceutical-grade precision," Martinez added.

To further bolster its technical capabilities, Novella is collaborating with world-class contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) like the UK-based CPI (Centre for Process Innovation) and Extracellular Ltd. These partnerships are designed to enhance and scale its upstream and downstream production processes, ensuring efficiency and quality as it grows.

This strategy has already earned significant validation. In January, Novella, in collaboration with Extracellular, received a prestigious grant from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The grant acknowledges Novella's cultivation methods as a leading example of sustainable and economically viable innovation in Europe, providing funds to further strengthen its processing techniques.

With these pieces in place, the commercial roll-out for Novella Strawberry is projected for 2027. The company is initially targeting the massive $60 billion North American nutraceutical market, with a pipeline of other whole-cell fruit and vegetable ingredients already in development.

"These combined efforts, and the introduction of Martinez into the Novella team, will create a robust, multi-layered ecosystem that supports Novella's goal of disrupting the traditional nutraceutical supply chain," Avidan concluded. "We look forward to advancing from the start-up stage to a full-production company."