KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Missouriar -- Collagen—a protein used for medical applications, cosmetics and protein powder—is a fast-growing market of over $10 billion, and is expected to double by the end of the decade. The U.S. market accounted for around $2.5 billion last year, according to Grand View Research—about 80% of which is imported. Which is ironic, because it's sourced from cattle hides that often come from the United States in the first place.

Kansas City-based Nortian Biotech is looking to change that. It recently secured a $41 million investment round to build its manufacturing operations in the Midwest, valuing the company at $100 million.

But the company isn't just re-inventing the wheel. Conventionally, collagen is extracted from animal hides by treating them with an acid or base solution to remove excess hair and other tissues, then simmering them in hot water for hours. This produces gelatin, a degraded form of collagen that requires additional steps to filter and purify before it can be used.

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Nortian, by contrast, has its own proprietary process that uses enzymes to extract collagen directly from the hides, without turning it into gelatin first. The result, CEO Andre Albuquerque told me when I visited their headquarters a few weeks ago, is a purer product that's cheaper to produce.

Albuquerque cofounded Nortian with Gabriel Prats and Diego Rolim in 2024. All three are originally from Brazil, where Albuquerque founded a company that first developed the enzymatic process. They decided to build the business directly in the United States because of the size of the market and its demand for higher-quality collagen. The three have bigger plans beyond collagen production, however. Once that part of the business is up and running, they plan to produce other valuable ingredients from animal waste.

"The goal is to have a full recycling company using biotechnology to develop the best ingredients for food supplements and the pharmaceutical sector," Albuquerque told me.

https://nortian.com/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/the-prototype/2025/11/08/trump-nominated-billionaire-jared-isaacman-to-run-nasa-again/