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Ron 'The Mussel King' Park has invented a new technology that's been 5 years in the making.

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With the ability to radically transform how we extract nutrients out of everything from fish to fungi, his new venture, NE Tech, is set to disrupt the entire global supplements industry.

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Park’s drive 

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When NZ-based Ron Park was growing up he was a bit of a ‘health nut,’ at one stage taking up to 22 supplements a day. It was an obsession that was matched by his passion for sustainability. 

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After discovering that a lot of the supplements he was taking were not sustainable, Park went on a journey that eventually led him to found Korure, which sourced its ingredients from New Zealand Green Lipped Mussels.

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Park grew his idea into a thriving business, which led him to be known as the "Mussel King." But despite its success, there was something about the whole thing that Park just couldn't stomach.

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"I realised that more than 50% of the mussel oils were being lost during the extraction process,” said Park. “The Green Lipped mussel oils were selling for two to three thousand dollars per kilogram at the time and we were losing half of that key ingredient!”

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Being an accountant by training, that loss didn't sit right with Park, and he knew in his gut, there had to be a better way.

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From mussel king to industry disruptor

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Park teamed up with a university professor from The University of Canterbury and they worked for over three years to “solve the extraction problem.”

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When they finally made their breakthrough, it left the old technology in the dust. 

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“We figured out a way to extract 95 - 99% of the ingredients we wanted. Which was a lot better than the 50% industry standard,” said Park. “We are also 85% cheaper on operational costs and 1282%, or 12.8 times, cheaper on capital costs than competing technologies.”

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One of NE Tech’s key innovations was the elimination of the drying process. 

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"For hundreds of years, we’ve had to dry the materials before extracting any oil. Our innovative technology allows us to extract the ingredients we want directly from the raw material without drying it first."

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The novel technology has implications across a whole swathe of product ranges. 

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“We can extract oils from mussels, cannabis, medicinal plants - virtually anything," said Park. 

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“The end product is water-soluble, tasteless and odourless.

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“We can take fish oil and put it in a protein shake, or milk shake - even a bubble tea. Nobody has ever been able to do that before.

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“For medicinal supplements like cannabis, our tech is also able to preserve all the key ingredients like THC, CBD and CBG.”

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It works because it is impossible

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The journey to success wasn't without its challenges. After a failed pilot project, one of Park's trusted advisors told NE Tech investors that the technology was "thermodynamically impossible." 

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After that the funding dried up.

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“I had to fire 5 people," said Park, “which was my entire team at the time. It was really rough.”

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But despite being told it could not be done, Park had conviction. 

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He went back and forth with investors for almost half a year, desperate to bring his vision to life.

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For Park, being told his idea was impossible wasn’t a red flag, it was a north star. 

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“The fact that a trusted advisor with 30 years experience was saying it could not be done gave me even more confidence, because it meant that not many other people would be trying. That motivated me to push even harder to be first - because I always knew it could work.”

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A lot on his plate

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Park’s passion for sustainability was inspired by his early childhood and his mother’s unconventional wisdom. 

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"She was a huge advocate for not wasting food," Park recalled. "She used to tell us, 'Every bit of food you leave behind on your plate, when you die, you're going to have to eat it all!'"

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The ethos of sustainability carried through into Park’s first business. 

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“Sustainability was one of the main reasons I chose the mussel. They absorb carbon dioxide, require no feeding and grow easily without harming the environment. In that business, I also used reusable or recycled materials and biodegradable, mycelium packaging that I created myself.”

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With NE Tech, the sustainability benefits are again material. 

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"By removing the need for drying, we’ve cut energy needs by up to 85%,’ said Park. 

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"We also eliminate the need for soft-gel capsules, which are labour-intensive and resource heavy, and our products have a much longer shelf life than oils - which means less waste."

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The novel extraction method also brings additional health benefits. 

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"We’re currently looking at clinical testing which we think will prove that our products have 3 to 5 times more bioavailability than traditional oils."

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Shaking up the oil world

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With the ability to turn oils into powder, the increased bioavailability, and the retention of psycho-active properties, there is already a growing hunger for NE Tech’s offerings.

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“We have letters of intent from 6 industries across 3 countries,” said Park. 

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“Our plan is to start with fish oils and algae and then expand into cannabis and mushrooms. Beyond that, we're looking at kava and dahlia flowers and then pretty much everything else.”

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Excited that NE Tech has finally graduated from tiny pilots and into commercialisation, Park is eager to scale. 

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"We’re looking to raise $3-5 million, to help build plants in Australia, Europe and the USA so we can meet the growing demand for our products.

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“In the future we’ll look at licensing, and eventually we think that we will become the industry standard.’

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“Our end goal is for every manufacturer that extracts oils to use our technology,”

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