Bluu Seafood, a Berlin-based food biotech company engaged in producing cultivated animal protein directly grown from fish cells, has raised EUR 16 million in a successful Series A round of venture capital funding. This will enable the German startup to further advance the work on its technology and launch products.
The fresh funding effort was led by Sparkfood and LBBW VC. Further participants in the round were SeaX Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, Norrsken VC, Delivery Hero, Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg GmbH and Dr. Oetker. In total, more than EUR 23 million has been raised since the company’s founding in 2020.
Bluu Seafood will use the newly acquired cash to drive regulatory approval of its first products, expand research and initiate pilot production. The focus will be on hybrid products such as fish fingers and fish balls made from cultivated fish cells blended with plant-based proteins. The company’s aim for market entry is 2024 in Singapore, where the sale of cultivated chicken was approved by regulators in 2020.
In the United States, cultivated meat and fish are also about to be launched following recent USDA and FDA approvals for cultivated protein startups Good Meat and Upside Foods. With the US Department of Agriculture granting final approval, Bluu too has initiated the approval process with the FDA. Europe will follow next.
The company is also currently preparing to open a pilot plant, with construction work to be completed by fall of 2023. The facility will pave the way for scaling up production into larger fermenters of up to 500 liters.
“Our successful Series A demonstrates the enormous potential that lies in cultivated fish as a platform technology for sustainable animal protein and underlines the strong scientific development that we have delivered so far. Together with our strong, international investor base, we can start the next stage of development and bring our first products to market,” said Dr. Sebastian Rakers, co-founder and chief executive officer of Bluu Seafood.
