SAGANATURA EHF

Their core work

SAGANATURA EHF (trading as Keynatura) is an Icelandic biotech SME that develops bioactive compounds with commercial applications in health and sustainable production. Their trajectory spans two distinct domains: early-stage work on integrated microalgae cultivation systems, and a major pivot toward pharmaceutical development — specifically a compound called C-08 targeting overactive bladder (OAB). Both paths suggest a company that identifies and develops natural or biological molecules for commercial therapeutic or industrial use. They are a founder-driven innovation company that self-funds early exploration through SME Phase 1 grants, then pursues full commercialization via SME Phase 2 funding.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

SAGANATURA began in 2016 with a focus on sustainable biotechnology — specifically scalable microalgae cultivation — which aligns with Iceland's clean-energy and aquaculture strengths. By 2019, they had made a sharp pivot into pharmaceutical therapeutics, with a proprietary compound targeting a high-value, well-defined clinical indication (overactive bladder affects ~17% of adults). This suggests that either the algae work fed into compound discovery, or the organization explored multiple biotech verticals before committing capital to the highest-return opportunity. The direction of travel is clearly toward pharma development and clinical-stage biotech, not sustainable food or environmental applications.

SAGANATURA is moving firmly into clinical biotech — if C-08 is progressing through trials, future collaboration opportunities will center on pharmaceutical development, clinical validation, or licensing deals rather than environmental or food biotech.

How they like to work

SAGANATURA has acted exclusively as project coordinator, and their project data shows zero consortium partners — consistent with the SME Instrument structure, which is designed for single-company applications. This means they are not experienced consortium builders and have not operated in multi-partner EU projects. For anyone seeking a consortium partner, this organization is an unusual case: they are strong enough technically to lead funded projects alone, but have no demonstrated track record of collaborative R&D at the consortium level.

SAGANATURA has no recorded consortium partners in the H2020 database, as both projects were solo SME Instrument applications. Their network, if any, is entirely informal — likely through Icelandic biotech clusters, university ties, or clinical partners not captured in CORDIS data.

What sets them apart

SAGANATURA is one of very few Icelandic SMEs to have secured both SME Phase 1 and Phase 2 funding in H2020, demonstrating genuine innovation capacity rather than grant-seeking behavior. Their proprietary C-08 compound for overactive bladder is a specific, defensible asset — not a platform technology or service offering — which makes them an attractive licensing or co-development partner for pharma companies. For consortia targeting health innovation or bioproducts, they bring both a concrete IP asset and the credibility of having been funded twice as a solo coordinator.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NO-GO
  The largest project by far at EUR 1.56M, NO-GO represents a full SME Phase 2 commercialization push for a proprietary compound (C-08) targeting overactive bladder — a mature, high-value therapeutic market — making it the defining project in their portfolio.
• Sustain-ALGae
  As the earlier feasibility-phase project, Sustain-ALGae reveals the company's biotech roots in sustainable biological systems and provides context for how they evolved toward therapeutic compound development.