Aquaculture Dealflow | Feb 4 - Feb 17, 2023
Bi-weekly roundup of investments and market movements in aquaculture
Spotlight
Compared to other foods, inflation rates for seafood has lowered but price increase continues to hamper sales in the US.
Compared to Jan 2022, Jan 2023 has witnessed the following price jumps per unit:
Frozen seafood +6.3% to USD 10.44
Fresh seafood +3.3% to USD 8.35
Meanwhile, the global grain markets continued to climb. Chicago wheat futures (May 23) increased by 3.6% in the past week. Barley, maize and rapeseed price continues to rise with wider grains index. Further escalation is expected due to Ukraine’s reduced grain export and ongoing dry weather in Argentina and Brazil.
Investments
👣 BlueTrace, developer of traceability system, secures additional USD 3.2m in seed funding (total USD 4.1m) led by York IE, Maine Venture Fund, and Coastal Enterprise Ventures, with participation from angel investors
🌱 Ocean Rainforest secures USD 6.2m in Series A funding to expand offshore kelp farming operations in Faroes, led by Grantham Foundation with participation from Katapult Ocean, Builders Vision, the Ocean Born Foundation and existing shareholders
Funding
🌊 Ocean 14 Capital fund receives EUR 30m investment from Ingka Investments (represent IKEA) to improve ocean health
⭐️ Blue Star Foods closes public offering with USD 1.8 million in proceeds
💰 Nordic Aqua Partners, Nutreco-backed land-based salmon farmer, raises an extra NOK 300m via private placement of 4.6 million new shares at NOK 65 to expand production capacity in China to 8000 metric tons/year
🇯🇵 Proximar Seafood, Grieg-backed land-based salmon company, receives JPY 8.8 billion in loan offer from syndicate consisting of 2 large Japanese banks to build facility outside Tokyo
New Products
♳ Partnered with Oceanize and Plasto, AKVA tests salmon pen made entirely from recycled plastics
📍 Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans launched the new Canada Marina Planning Atlas, an interactive tool that supports marine spatial planning for the aquaculture sector
🍣 Multi X launches new salmon product with carbon-neutral certification
😖 South African startup MariHealth Solutions develops a proteomic-based tool to detect stress levels and measure feed formulation impacts
Movements
Feed
🍔 350PPM Biotech successfully tests its single cell protein ingredient Marinin (produced from carbon dioxide and hydrogen) as fishmeal and soymeal replacement on shrimp and salmon
🪰 Full Circle Biotechnology, Thailand-based insect feed startup, launches new waste-to-protein system to use insect larvae to create a low-carbon, high-protein alternative aquafeed
🌱 Seafood Algternative project, an initiative to to develop algae-based fish substitutes from smoked salmon to roes, receives support from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
🏭 ADM invests over USD 30m in new facility in Spain to increase probiotics output to 50 metric tons annually
🍤 Skretting opens EUR 18.5m 20,000 m² feed facility in India for shrimp and fish aquaculture
🏭 Evonik expands probiotics production in Spain to 6,000 metric tons of blended final probiotic product per year
🌽 Auburn University tested the efficacy of poultry corn byproduct meal, a combination of wet poultry processing waste and corn that was co-dried, with up to 30% inclusion 🐛 New study from Scottish startup SalmoSim suggests waxworms fed on low-density polyethylene plastic waste could be viable protein sources for farmed Atlantic salmon
🐓 Researchers found that chicken and farmed salmon have remarkably similar environmental footprints
Farming
🇮🇳 India identifies 146 potential sea farming sites as part of CMFRI’s plan
🇲🇦 AquaGo develops first marine fish hatchery in Morocco to produce fingerlings of seabream, seabass and meagre at 10 million production capacity per year
🐟 Land-based salmon farm Proximar Seafood uses Graintec’s water-borne feeding system HyFlow to minimize feed loss
⛴ China’s Conson No 1, world’s 1st full-scale smart farming ship that produces 3,700 tons of large yellow croaker annually, lands ASC certification
🤖 Mowi Scotland signs major contract with ROV innovator Underwater Contracting to use 15 submersible ROVs for Mowi’s farms in the UK, Europe and North America
☹️ Australia’s prawn farming venture Seafarms’ Project Sea Dragon scraps operations as it enters voluntary administration
Health & Genetics
🧬 Researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Florida develops single genetic test for all 3 variants of infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) in barramundi (research here)
🐠 WorldFish publishes the 1st comprehensive, high-quality reference genome for a strain of genetically improved farmed tilapia
😷 National Science Foundation provides USD 3m grant to researchers to explore an emerging group of transmissible cancers that impact both farmed and wild mussels, oysters, scallops and clams
Regional Commitment
🇸🇦 ARASCO, NEOM and Cargill signs partnership to support the sustainable expansion of Saudi Arabia’s aquaculture sector
Notable Reads
🐟 'It's me!' Fish recognizes itself in photographs, say scientists by ScienceDaily
Scientists have demonstrated that fish think 'it's me' when they see themselves in a picture. The researchers found that the determining factor was not the fish seeing their own body but seeing their face.