Cultivated seafood company Bluu Seafood announces it has secured €16 million in Series A funding to advance its technology platform and scale up its cultivated fish production.
The German food tech also announced that it will invest in R&D activities to prove it can scale its production at a new pilot plant (opening in Q3) with bioreactors of up to 500 liters in volume. As it scales its technology, the company said it will seek regulatory approval for its products in USA and Singapore in 2024.
“We are proud to announce that we have secured the necessary capital to further advance the work on our groundbreaking technology — the cultivation of real fish without killing,” shared the company on its social channels.
A pioneer in Europe
Founded in Berlin in 2020 as Bluu Biosciences, the company uses stem-cell technology to grow entire cell lines for cultivation. It has attracted many investors raising a total of €23 million to date, including this round. Chris Dammann, the company’s COO, is one of the world’s leading experts in cellular agriculture and cultivated fish development.
In 2022, Bluu Seafood became the first European food tech to introduce cultivated fish products: fish sticks and balls containing a mix of cultivated tissue and plant proteins. And last December, the food tech announced GMO-free fish cell lines growing without using microcarriers to develop salmon fillets and sashimi prototypes— an “essential” milestone in the production process.
Approval in the US and Singapore
Last week, GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods received approval to produce and commercialize cell-cultivated chicken in the USA — becoming the second country after Singapore to support this new technology.
Around the world, 156 food techs have been researching and investing in meat and fish from cell cultures. GFI figures show that capital investments in the cultivated meat sector amount to approximately $2.8 billion. Noteworthy companies cultivating fish include Wanda Fish from Israel, Umami Meats, and US biotechs BlueNalu and Wildtype (a 2023 launch?).
Europe has yet to approve any cultivated products. According to the GFI Europe, cultivated seafood will help combat Europe’s reliance on imports and destructive production practices while meeting consumer demands.
“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,” commented Anouk Veber, Head of Ventures at Sparkfood.
Sparkfood, a subsidiary of Portuguese food group Sonae and LBBW’s investment arm, led the round. Other backers include Dr. Oetker, SeaX Ventures, Manta Ray, Norrsken VC, Delivery Hero Ventures, IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH, and Be8 Ventures, among other private investors.