Bluu Seafood, a German firm creating cultivated (i.e. “lab-grown”) fish merchandise, right this moment introduced it has raised €16 million ($17.5 million) in a Collection A spherical of funding.
Based out of Berlin in 2020 initially as Bluu Biosciences, Bluu Seafood begins with a “one-time” fish biopsy — which, it says, doesn’t require killing any fish — after which makes use of stem-cell expertise to develop total cell strains (i.e. fish species) inside a lab.
The corporate unveiled its first merchandise final August, together with a line of fish sticks (or “fish fingers”) and fish balls. These are constituted of cultivated fish cells which are enriched with plant proteins, a course of it says helps make their mouth-feel and cooking course of extra life like.
Bluu Seafood’s cultivated fish balls Picture Credit: Bluu Seafood
Manufacturing issues
Bluu Seafood is one in all quite a few biotech startups which are getting down to deal with the world’s seafood manufacturing issues, which incorporates overfishing, contamination, and cruelty. However the motion shouldn’t be restricted to marine animals, with numerous corporations elevating bucketloads of VC money to breed every part from bacon to burgers and hen and past.
Bluu Seafood, for its half, had raised €7.1 million in funding to date, and with one other €16 million within the financial institution it’s now gearing as much as attain regulatory approval in varied markets, together with Singapore which is at the moment the one market on the earth the place cultured meat (hen) is in the stores. Nonetheless, the Meals and Drug Affiliation (FDA) additionally began rubberstamping such edibles as being secure for human consumption, and simply this week it accredited two corporations to start promoting their lab-grown hen merchandise — so we will anticipate some industrial exercise within the U.S. within the very close to future.
First up, Bluu Seafood is aiming to enter Singapore, the place it says it expects to obtain approval a while in 2024, whereas it says it has additionally kickstarted the approval course of with the FDA, and can then set about focusing on the European market.
Bluu Seafood’s Collection A spherical was led by Sonae-subsidiary Sparkfood and LBBW VC, with participation from Supply Hero, SeaX Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, Norrsken VC, Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank and Dr. Oetker.