SAN DIEGO — Cell-based seafood start-up BlueNalu secured $20 million in Series A funding.
Funds from the round, which was co-led by Stray Dog Capital, CPT Capital, New Crop Capital and Clear Current Capital, will go toward developing a pilot production facility in San Diego.
BlueNalu added several investors that may provide expertise and infrastructure in supply chain, operations and distribution. These include animal nutrition company Nutreco, product development partner Griffith Foods and Rich Products Ventures, the venture arm of bakery supplier Rich Products Foods Corp., which also has a 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 chief executive officer 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.”
While around 40 companies currently are developing lab-grown meat, only a handful have focused on seafood. BlueNalu is focused on a variety of species that cannot be easily farmed. Finless Foods is working on bluefin tuna, while fellow San Francisco-based start-up Wild Type has its sights on salmon.
The announcement makes BlueNalu the latest cell-based meat start-up to unveil plans for a production plant or pilot production plant. Future Meat Technologies, Memphis Meats, Mosa Meat and Meatable also have invested in facilities recently.
