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BLUU Seafood’s cultivated fish fingers made from trout cells. Copyright: BLUU GmbH / Photographer Anna Brauns.
BLUU Seafood Raises EUR 16 Million in Series A Funding to Bring Cultivated Fish tMarket
(GERMANY, 6/30/2023)
BLUU Seafood, the leading European food biotech to produce cultivated fish, continues its growth path and successfully closes its Series A. By raising EUR 16 million, the German start-up secures the capital to further advance the work on its groundbreaking technology and the market launch of first products. Cultivated fish is real animal protein directly grown from fish cells without killing the animal.
The Series A funding was led by Sparkfood and LBBW VC. Further participants in the round were SeaX Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, Norrsken VC, Delivery Hero, Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg GmbH and Dr. Oetker. In total, BLUU Seafood has raised more than EUR 23 million since its founding in 2020.
Fish cells can be cultivated at room temperature, which saves energy cost while mammalian cells need 37°.
The company will use the fresh money to drive regulatory approval of its first products, expanding research work and initiating pilot production. The focus will be on hybrid products such as fish balls and fish fingers made from cultivated fish cells blended with plant-based proteins, which BLUU first presented in 2022. The start-up aims for market entry in Singapore by 2024, where the sale of cultivated chicken has already been approved by regulators in 2020.
Europe's first market-ready seafood products grown directly from fish cells: Bluu Seafood’s fish balls, fish fingers and sashimi are made using trout cells and plant-based proteins.
In the US, cultivated meat and fish are also about to be launched following recent USDA and FDA approvals for cultivated protein start-ups GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods.
Dr. Sebastian Rakers.
With the final approval of the US Department of Agriculture granted a few days ago, the sale is now officially allowed. BLUU Seafood, too, has initiated the approval process with the FDA. Europe will follow next.
The company is also currently preparing to open its pilot production plant with construction work to be completed by fall this year. With this plant, BLUU Seafood will leave lab scale and reach another important milestone by scaling up production into larger fermenters of up to 500 liters.
Dr. Sebastian Rakers, Co-Founder and CEO of BLUU Seafood said: "Our successful Series-A demonstrates the enormous potential that lies in cultivated fish as a platform technology for sustainable animal protein and underlines the strong scientific development that we at BLUU Seafood have delivered so far. Together with our strong, international investor base, we can start the next stage of development and bring our first products to market."
About BLUU Seafood
BLUU Seafoodis on a mission to bring cell biotechnology and food technology together to make cultivated fish a reality. The company's goal is to ensure that the seafood we know and love can be enjoyed for generations to come, without harming animals or our planet’s fragile ocean ecosystems.
Cultivated fish is healthy seafood created without the animal - directly from cells, using advanced biotechnology. BLUU Seafood has everything ready to create the most nutritious & delicious fish products: proprietary cell lines, unique focus and more than a decade of work.
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