May 2, 2024

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Located in one of the world’s top seafood technology hubs, Bluefront Equity is active in driving the food transition by investing in product, service, and tech companies aligned with scaling the global aquaculture industry. 

To advance this mission, the firm announced it has launched its second seafood impact investment fund – Bluefront Capital II –  and has already secured $50 million in capital commitments, including support from one of the world’s most renowned impact investment firms. 

Similar to Bluefront Capital I, Bluefront Capital II’s mandate will be to invest in companies with products, services, and technologies that contribute to a more sustainable seafood value chain, including software or platforms that result in improved fish welfare and ocean health. 

“The fish farming industry needs to further improve biological conditions and fish welfare and reduce its climate footprint. Our portfolio companies contribute towards solving many of the challenges the industry faces,” says Kjetil Haga, partner, Bluefront.

Bluefront’s first fund is the majority owner of several high-growth companies working to make the value chain more sustainable, including fish specialists Bio Marine and ocean health monitoring leader Seaqloud. And the largest investors in this first fund have also returned to support Bluefront Capital II, including Havfonn, the Steensland group, 3S Invest, Klaveness Marine, TD Veen, Cubera, among others. 

“We are experiencing significant interest from investors,” said Simen Landmark, partner, Bluefront. “The fact that the largest investors from our first fund choose to invest in the second fund too, is a strong confirmation of the healthy development our first fund has seen.”

One particularly high-profile investor that came onboard for Bluefront Capital II is Cambridge Associates, a global investment firm with $569 billion in AUM that builds custom portfolios geared for real-world impact for endowments, foundations, private clients, pension plans, healthcare systems, and other institutional investors. 

“Cambridge Associates’ due diligence process is the most thorough and rigorous we have ever experienced,” noted Landmark. “We are proud to have met their stringent investment criteria. The combination of being a pure-play seafood investor and a certified sustainability fund in line with the EU’s comprehensive taxonomy guidelines is a good match for their profile.”

Bluefront explained that deployment from Fund II has already begun. Looking to partner as joint owners to develop businesses in collaboration with companies’ founders and current shareholders, they are engaged in several due diligence processes with expectations of making an acquisition this summer. 

In addition to the benefits of working with Bluefront’s core team, its portfolio companies gain access to advisers with extensive seafood industry experience, including former Mowi CEO Alf-Helge Aarskog, former BioMar EVP Jan Sverre Røsstad, founding partner of the venture fund Springbank Jennifer Lee Koss, and HitecVision-partner Arne Trondsen.

“We believe the seafood industry notices that Bluefront-owned companies develop strongly and that our sector-specific approach makes us unique,” said Haga. “Our deal flow is currently better than ever.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and Agtech Intel News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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