BLUU Seafood secures 16 million
Fresh capital for the market maturity of cultured fish
BLUU Seafood, the leading European food biotech in the production of cultured fish, successfully closes its Series-A. With a financing round of 16 million euros, the start-up puts a clear exclamation mark and secures the necessary capital to further advance the work on its pioneering technology and the market launch of its first products. The Series-A is led by Sparkfood, a subsidiary of Sonae, and LBBW VC. As an investor and operator of innovative food companies across Europe, Sparkfood complements the existing circle of international food and impact investors with its wealth of experience, particularly in the retail sector. Also participating in the round are Asian investor SeaX Ventures and other renowned venture capitalists such as Manta Ray Ventures, Norrsken VC, Delivery Hero, Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg GmbH and Dr. Oetker. In total, BLUU Seafood has thus raised more than 23 million euros since it was founded three years ago.
With the fresh capital, in addition to expanding its research work and launching pilot production, the company will primarily focus on the approval of its first products. The focus will be on the fish balls and sticks made from cultured fish cells, which will be presented in the summer of 2022. The start-up initially plans to launch the products in Singapore. The approval process for cultured chicken meat was first successfully implemented there in 2020. The Asian country therefore also offers ideal conditions for the start of sales of cultured fish. BLUU Seafood expects approval in Singapore in 2024.
In the USA, too, the signs for cultured proteins are green following USDA and FDA approvals for the start-ups GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods. With the approval of the U.S. Department of Agriculture granted a few days ago, the sale of cultured chicken meat is now officially permitted. BLUU Seafood is also in the approval process in the USA. Europe will follow. Currently, the company is preparing to open a pilot production facility. The conversion work at the marzipan factory in Hamburg will be fully completed in the fall of 2023. The start-up will then move in. With the pilot production, BLUU Seafood leaves the laboratory status and reaches another important milestone by scaling up production using larger fermenters of up to 500 liters.
Dr. Sebastian Rakers, Co-Founder and CEO of BLUU Seafood.
"On the one hand, our highly successful Series-A speaks for the enormous future potential that lies in cultured fish as a platform technology for sustainable animal protein. On the other hand, it also underscores the strong scientific development performance that BLUU Seafood and our Page 2 of 4 excellent team have delivered to date. Together with our strong international investors, we can start the next stage of development and bring our first products to market."
Simon Fabich, Co-Founder of BLUU Seafood
"The momentum in the market is huge, especially justified by the recent regulatory approvals in the U.S. for cell cultured foods and the timely launch of first products into the American market. The vision is becoming reality. This is increasingly being seen by forward-looking investors, and the flow of capital is growing massively. We, too, will specifically raise further funding and help lead this revolution as a European player."
Anouk Veber, Head of Ventures at Sparkfood
"The future of human nutrition lies in healthier and sustainable alternatives to conventional food production. At Sparkfood, we focus on disruptive food innovations that are environmentally friendly while being scalable enough to make a relevant contribution to feeding the world's growing population. BLUU Seafood has provided the proof-of-concept for this. We are excited and proud to support this great team in bringing it to market."
Andreas von Richter, Managing Director of LBBW VC
"Our vision is to shape a resilient future that relies on targeted investments in startups that significantly and sustainably improve our climate footprint. In this regard, breakthrough technologies play a crucial role, and protein cell cultivation in particular represents a key innovation. BLUU Seafood is proving to be a true pioneer in this field, and it is a pleasure for us to support this German success story and to walk the path to a sustainable future together."
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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