By Lynda Kiernan
San Diego-based cellular seafood startup BlueNalu announced it has closed on a $20 million Series A co-led by Stray Dog Capital, Clear CPT Capital, New Crop Capital, and Clear Current Capital to fund preparations for a market launch.
All four co-leaders of this round are return investors, having participated in BlueNalu’s $4.5 million raising in August 2018.
“BlueNalu has achieved a number of milestones in a very short period of time, and we are proud to have backed this company since its very origins,” said Chris Kerr, CIO, New Crop Capital. “We have witnessed extremely rapid global growth in plant-based foods, and BlueNalu is clearly at the forefront of this next generation of alternative proteins that many are predicting will have considerable growth and significant market penetration in the coming years.”
KBW Ventures, an investor in innovative companies like BlueNalu that are working to sustainably feed the world that is led by His Royal Highness Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, is also a new investor joining this round.
“We are extremely thankful to the committed group of visionaries who participated in our earlier financing round and have invested again in this round; and we are eager to form partnerships with these five strategic investors, so that we can efficiently commercialize and launch our cell-based seafood products in nations around the world,” said Lou Cooperhouse, president and CEO, BlueNalu.
Founded by Cooperhouse and Chief Technology Officer Chris Dammann, the name BlueNalu incorporates “Nalu”, a Hawaiian word that when used as a noun refers to the waves of the ocean, and when used as a verb means to meditate, ponder, or contemplate.
Recognizing the range of challenges being faced by the wild catch seafood industry including fraud, overfishing, environmental impact, pollution, illegal labor issues, and heavy metal toxicity, the founding team brought together expertise in cell biology, IP, food tech, tissue engineering, commercialization, and marketing to sustainably create cell-cultured finned fish, crustaceans, and molluscs in a laboratory setting.
“BlueNalu will offer a sustainable solution to consumers, free of mercury and environmental contaminants, that will support the health, sustainability and biodiversity of our ocean. This is clearly a win-win-win for human health, sea life, and for our planet,” said Kerr.
These factors, along with BlueNalu’s team, also attracted a range of strategic investors to its Series A that bring expertise in infrastructure, supply chains, operations, sales, marketing, and distribution, and that will offer BlueNalu guidance and raw material know-how.
These five include: Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed; Griffith Foods, a global product development partner in the food industry; Pulmuone, a leader in healthy lifestyle and sustainable food products with distribution in Asia and North America; Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, a global investor and supplier of goods and services including foods; Rich Product Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Rich Products Corporation – a leading multinational supplier of icings, cakes, pizza desserts, appetizers, and bakery products, and which has a growing line of value-added seafood products.
“All companies need a fair amount of funding. But companies also need strategic partners to really get to market in an efficient fashion, and efficiency [is] not just in costs but also in time,” Cooperhouse told Food Dive. “So we specifically sought out these five partners.”
The capital secured through this round will be used by BlueNalu to fund its preparations for a market launch expected to take place in late 2021. And although the startup is working to produce lab-created seafood from cells from tuna, red snapper, and yellowtail amberjack, the launch will focus on mahi mahi.
The funds will help the company move into a new 12,000 square-foot location that will give the company a headquarters that is double the size of its previous site. It will free up the company to expand its biological R&D initiatives, improve its engineering, and increase production and commercialization efforts for its cell-based seafood, and will eventually have the capacity to produce hundreds of pounds of seafood per week.
Another key factor to the success of cell-based meats and seafoods on the consumer market is perception, and the ability for these startups to gain the goodwill of not only consumers but regulators as well.
Toward this end, BlueNalu is one of five cellular meat companies to form the Alliance for Meat, Poultry, & Seafood Innovation (AMPS). Together with Memphis Meats, JUST, Finless Foods, and Fork & Goode, this coalition will work as a united front to represent the interests of these pioneering companies, working with government officials to determine the labeling and regulatory frameworks that will be in place once cellular meats, poultry, and seafood begin to reach market shelves.
“Over the past few years, each member company has made significant strides in the development of our products, and we are excited at the prospect that they will soon be options in the everyday diets of individuals,” said the coalition in a recent release. “We are committed to an open and science-based dialogue with all stakeholders, including industry partners, policymakers, advocates and consumers.”
“As we look ahead to the imminent challenges of feeding a growing population, AMPS Innovation is dedicated to working together, in partnership with the broader agricultural community, to advance solutions to address these needs.”
– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.