Launched in 2018, OCEANIUM’s mentioned its mission is to allow and unlock the rising sustainable seaweed farming trade within the Western hemisphere by extracting most worth from seaweed.
It mentioned the most recent funding will scale its proprietary biorefinery expertise and speed up the commercialisation of OCEANIUM’s meals components, bioactives for well being and cosmetics, and progressive supplies for luxurious packaging and textiles to satisfy market demand.
OCEANIUM’s enterprise mannequin relies on proprietary biorefinery expertise which extracts most worth from sustainably farmed seaweed: a regenerative, resilient, and nutrient-rich marine plant and the final word sustainable biomass for plant-based meals, nutraceuticals and supplies markets.
Modern seaweed-based supplies can exchange useful resource intensive merchandise, the corporate claimed. “Seaweed farming is a regenerative type of aquaculture with the potential for quite a few environmental, financial, and societal advantages. OCEANIUM’s biorefinery mannequin offers a path for a scaled seaweed trade to contribute to meals safety and provide as a quantity purchaser of farmed seaweed.”
One ingredient produced by the agency is a high-fibre seaweed-based one-for-one methylcellulose alternative for plant-based meat which can be utilized in different merchandise functions together with gluten-free breads and drinks. Referred to as OCEAN HEALTH Fiber and described as a sustainable dietary fiber from seaweed, it has obtained GRAS standing within the U.S., regulatory approval within the UK and EU, and is receiving business traction from international meals firms seeking to combine sustainable components into their merchandise.
Containing 69% dietary fibre, made up of each soluble and insoluble fibres, and a mix of proteins and minerals, the corporate additional hopes the ingredient could assist tackle the dearth of dietary fibre in most fashionable diets. Seaweed also can help improved diet and diets as a supply of plant-based protein and vitamins equivalent to zinc, magnesium, and Nutritional vitamins A, B12, and Ok, in response to the corporate.
OCEANIUM mentioned it should use the financing to commercialize its meals components and nutraceutical merchandise, proceed improvement of progressive supplies, and full the preparations for the “shovel-ready” set up of a scaled seaweed biorefinery deliberate below its Collection A fundraising.
Farmed seaweed additionally boasts quite a few environmental, social and financial advantages, in response to the corporate. Co-founder and CTO Charlie Bavington not too long ago instructed FoodNavigator it regards farmed seaweed as “probably the most sustainable biomass on the planet due to its environmental and societal advantages”.
Sustainably farmed seaweed, he instructed us, offers jobs alongside rural coastal areas, mitigates eutrophication by absorbing nitrogen and phosphorous, will increase biodiversity by defending nursery grounds and seabeds. Seaweed farms don’t want cleared land, recent water, insecticide or fertilizer.
Asserting the most recent fundraise, he added: “We’re delighted that our present buyers in addition to the brand new extremely famend influence buyers contributed to the success of this financing spherical. In a short while, we’ve quickly developed our biorefinery expertise from lab bench to TRL 6-8 (system full and certified), and a few of our components to TRL 7/8. This spherical helps us to realize the thrilling subsequent step of delivering for our prospects.”
James Lindsay, Principal at Builders Imaginative and prescient, the VC that led the funding spherical, mentioned: “Seaweed can play a worthwhile function in addressing local weather change and creating sustainable meals sources, however we want innovators like OCEANIUM to champion seaweed manufacturing and spotlight its big selection of makes use of. Builders Imaginative and prescient is dedicated to investing in tangible options that contribute to a extra humane and wholesome planet, and we’re honoured to proceed supporting OCEANIUM because it appears to be like to scale and speed up the seaweed farming trade by means of its progressive processing expertise and seaweed-based merchandise.”
