BLUU Seafood - From the bioreactor instead of the sea

Bluu Seafood grows fish and seafood from cell cultures in the laboratory. Now the Berlin-based start-up has closed a Series A financing of 16 million euros. Among the investors are well-known names such as Dr. Oetker and Delivery Hero. The money will be used, among other things, to push ahead with approval in Singapore and the USA.

Cell cultivation instead of overfishing the oceans: The Berlin start-up Bluu Seafood cultivates fish products from cell cultures and would like to bring the alternative foods to the market worldwide as soon as possible. The company is now a big step closer to achieving this goal. In a Series A financing round, 16 million euros were raised. In addition to Sonae's subsidiary Sparkfood and LBBW VC, the investors include Delivery Hero, SeaX Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, Norrsken VC, Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank and Dr. Oetker. Together with an already completed seed round, Bluu Seafood has thus raised around 23 million euros.

On the way to the market

Bluu Seafood wants to use the money, among other things, to advance the official approval for its products in various countries. So far, authorities around the world have been rather reluctant to approve cultured meat; only in Singapore and the USA have manufacturers received approval so far. While Bluu Seafood has already applied for approval in Singapore and expects it to be granted in 2024, the USA is now to follow. After that, the food biotech wants to set its sights on the European market.

Bluu Seafood was founded in 2020 by Dr Sebastian Rakers and Simon Fabich with a team of experts including marine biologists, cell biologists, tissue engineers and food technicians. The company, which is based in Berlin and has scientific facilities in Lübeck, claims to be the first in Europe to specialise in the commercial production of cell-based fish. The company grows the fish alternative in fermenters - without using genetic engineering.

In August last year, Bluu Seafood had already presented the first products from the laboratory - including fish fingers and fish balls. Bluu Seafood is currently building a third location in Hamburg-Altona for scaling, commercialisation and process optimisation.

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Cluster HealthCapital Berlin Brandenburg www.healthcapital.de, "From the bioreactor instead of the sea - Successful Series A financing for Bluu Seafood" of Jula 11,2023; Aug 18, 2023