ⓘ Source: Press Release; Image credits: Supplied
▸ Leading company in cell-based seafood receives funding from five strategic investors, including Griffith Foods, Nutreco, Pulmuone, Rich Product Ventures, and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas
▸ New investors to this round include KBW Ventures, led by HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud
San Diego, California, February 26, 2020: BlueNalu, a leading innovative food company producing seafood directly from fish cells based in San Diego, California, today announced the successful completion of its $20 million Series A round of funding. This financing will enable BlueNalu to develop a good manufacturing practices (GMP) pilot production facility in San Diego, expand its world-class team, implement strategic alliances for global operations and distribution, and prepare for its market launch.
The Series A round is co-led by Stray Dog Capital, CPT Capital, New Crop Capital, and Clear Current Capital, each of which participated in BlueNalu’s seed round. BlueNalu secured $4.5 million in 2018 and has attracted investors from 11 nations to date demonstrating global interest in the disruptive potential for the company.
New investors to this round include KBW Ventures, led by His Royal Highness Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud. KBW Ventures supports innovative companies like BlueNalu that have tremendous potential for growth, and can sustainably feed the world.
BlueNalu’s A round attracted a significant number of strategic investors that provide a broad range of expertise and infrastructure in supply chain, operations, sales, marketing and distribution. The strategic investors include global supply chain leaders that will provide guidance and raw material expertise to BlueNalu. These include Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed, and Griffith Foods, a global product development partner to the food industry, with expertise in market insights, food science, culinary and sensory optimization. Strategic investors also include organizations with expertise in operations, sales, and distribution, including: 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 Products Ventures, the Corporate Venture arm of Rich Products Corporation, a leading multinational supplier of icings, cakes, pizza, desserts, appetizers and various bakery products, and which has a growing line of brands in the value-added seafood category.
“BlueNalu has made considerable progress toward bringing cell-based seafood products to the world,” said Lou Cooperhouse, president and CEO of BlueNalu. “We have designed and executed a platform technology in which we will ultimately offer a broad array of sustainable cell-based seafood products to consumers, and our team has been extremely focused on implementing systems and processes that will be needed for cost-effective, large-scale production. 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.”
“BlueNalu has demonstrated global leadership in cell-based seafood, and has the team, expertise, strategy and networks that are key to its success,” said Chuck Laue, co-founder and chair of Stray Dog Capital. “As global demand for seafood continues to increase, and our supply continues to be compromised, we are excited at the potential for BlueNalu to play a significant role in feeding the planet in the decades to come.”
“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, chief investment officer, 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. 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.”
Investors to date include: Agronomics Ltd; AiiM Partners LP; Alwyn Capital LLC; Baleine & Bjorn Capital; Beyond Impact Vegan Partners, LLP; Cibus Enterprise Fund, LP; Clear Current Capital; CPT Capital; EverHope Capital; Greenwich Estates; Griffith Foods Worldwide; ImpactAssets Inc.; JVP International Management; Marstar Investments, LLC; MCS, Ltd; MLC50 LP; New Crop Capital Trust; Nutreco Investments BV; OurCrowd, LP; Pulmuone USA; PWR Capital; Rich Product Ventures, LLC; SIF Angelist, LLC; Stray Dog Capital; Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (Presidio Ventures), Sustainable Foodies; Tech Coast Angels – San Diego; and VegInvest Trust. The Berry Family Trust, and a number of additional investors and trusts, have also participated in company financings. Additional investors also include celebrity chef Roy Yamaguchi, and award-winning record producer Axel Hedfors of music supergroup Swedish House Mafia.
