Aquaculture Dealflow & Notable Reads - 4
Bi-weekly roundup of investments and market movements in aquaculture
Happy Friday fellow readers. It’s a bit quieter on the deals end but its been a busy week with research discovery! These are my pick of news items driving the past two weeks. Enjoy and have a great weekend ahead!
Market Highlights
Robobank published the “Global Aquaculture Update 2H 2022,” subtitled “On the Brink of Recession, stating that “Global seafood demand has peaked and will now weaken”.
In the first half of 2022, the salmon and shrimp sectors both experienced record demand and prices. But thus far in 2022, the supply dynamics of each sector have bifurcated, with shrimp supply growth “strong” in 1H 2022 while salmon supply has experienced its largest contraction since 2016, at 6%.
For regional analysis, please refer directly to the report.
Investments & Acquisitions
🪰 Divaks attracts EUR 3m in seed funding to develop insect-derived ingredients
🐡 Hima Seafood, Norwegian land-based trout farmer, secures USD 49m from JLEN Environmental Assets Group over the next 4 years, a fund dedicated to renewable energy infrastructure
🐟 Mekong Delta lands USD 26m aquaculture investment from The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank for a new 5,500 hectare aquaculture project
🤖 Nutreco increases stake in India-based Eruvaka, cloud-based aquaculture pond management solution developer, to 93.7% from 25.45%
💨 UniBio, a Denmark-based single cell protein producer from natural gas, seeking to raise USD 50m to fund 10 new site establishments globally
Movements
🌱 US-based Akua launches kelp-based Krab Cake
🍤 Blue Aqua International, expert on shrimp farming technology, partners with Fisheries Development Oman in Sultanate to technical assist on FDO’s existing shrimp farming operations
🍣 Bluu Seafood expects its cell-cultured seafood to be in supermarkets by 2025
🌱 Clean Seas signs R&D collaboration with CH4 Australia to produce methane-reducing Asparagopsis seaweed in its South Australian yellowtail kingfish hatchery
🍄 Danish researchers in Copenhagen collaborate with Michelin star restaurant Alchemist to create sustainable plant-based seafood alternatives using mycelium
💧 Eluceda, a UK based biotech company, develops a new rapid 60-seconds hydrogen peroxide test
🌿 Two researchers at ETH Zurich attempts to develop microalgae-based prawn substitute in Switzerland
🪰 Fera Science opens £1 million insect bioconversion lab in York as it moves to develop upcycled products
🇮🇳 India sets 9.7 million tonne seaweed target (cultivated around 34,000 tonnes of seaweeds in 2021)
🇮🇪 Irish announces EUR 20m in aquaculture funding to support at max 40% of eligible costs
🇯🇵 Gene-edited pufferfish and sea bream hit menus in Japan
👩🎓 Kurt Grinnell Aquaculture Scholarship Foundation is open for applications
🌊 Ocean Sovereign is developing a 174 metre mobile fish farm that could be capable of producing up to 5,000 tonnes of salmon per cycle
🌳 Scale, French startup that transforms tilapia scales into wood, produces novel fire-proof material Scalite
🐡 Thai Union launches alternative seafood products in retailers across Thailand
🦀 The Plant Based Seafood Company, a US based seafood analog product venture, launches its fourth seafood alternative product, plant-based crab cakes
☠️ Regal Springs, leading Tilapia producer, partners with Ace Aquatec on in-water, high-welfare stunning solutions
🦐 Shiok Meats and Minh Phu Seafood launches research partnership to develop cell-based shrimp
🐟 U.S. Department of Agriculture purchases USD 52m worth of seafood products from the U.S. Pacific Northwest
🇬🇧 GBP 100m UK Seafood Fund extends through 2025
Notable Reads
How Tagged Turtles Are Boosting Tropical Cyclone Prediction by Kate Golden
Now here is a hardy character that can wear a 250-gram tag, travels thousands of kilometers each year, and reliably comes back to its natal beach.
The Surprising Consequences of a Seaweed Switcheroo by Rebecca Dzombak
The cold-water kelp, they found, can support upward of 50 grams of red algae each. The warm-water kelp, in contrast, had almost none. This difference translated up the food chain. The cold-water kelp supported up to 375 invertebrates each, while a similarly sized warm-water kelp maxed out at 25.