Value-added seafood brand LoveTheWild received a $2.5 million (€2.3 million) investment from Aqua-Spark in early February, a partnership that the brand's co-founders say is a perfect match.

"We're so excited to partner with Aqua-Spark," COO Christy Brouker told IntraFish. "Sometimes there are specific strings attached with investments, but [with Aqua-Spark], our agendas and our missions are so well-aligned."

Co-founder and CEO Jacqueline Claudia told IntraFish they'd had their eyes on Aqua-Spark for a while.

"We'd ID'd them as someone we hoped to work with to advance our aquaculture mission," she said.

The investment will be used to focus on "growth and building our team," Brouker added.

"Growth is our main goal for this year," she said, adding that their Colorado-based team now consists of 10 people.

The company sources its catfish from Harvest Select, its barramundi from Australis and its trout from Sunburst Trout Farms, but the founders said they are open to any farms that adhere to its standards.

Brouker and Claudia spoke with IntraFish about consumer trends and what it takes to sell seafood to US consumers.

What are your five top-selling seafood species?

CB: We're phasing out our wild-caught fish, so right now we have farmed species. Catfish, barramundi, striped bass and red trout are all popular, they're all so different. Our sauces are perfectly formulated to go with each fish, and there are so many regional differences.

JC: Our sleeper hit is our catfish, because depending on where you are in the US, you have a preconceived notion of it. They are always surprised.

What are some consumer trends you're seeing pertaining to seafood?

CB: It's really about transparency and sourcing and that solves a lot of the issues people have with fish fraud. Every batch that comes in, we print the individual farm, the feed, the technology. I don't think that trend will stop anytime soon and I think it's great.

Which seafood suppliers do you depend on and why?

CB: We have great suppliers around the world. Our question we get is 'Is everything domestic?' but our answer is no. Our mission is to support the best seafood farms and facilities around the world. It doesn't matter to us as long as their sustainability standards are up to par and match ours. We have our regular suppliers and we have our backups, both from the US and from all over the world.

Finish this sentence: Selling seafood to consumers requires ...

CB: For us, it has to be delicious. It needs that sustainability and it needs that traceability and you need to be able to trust it, but for us, at the end of the day, it's food. If it doesn't taste good, people are not going to come back and buy it again. We make sure the fish is as fresh as it can get.

A close second for us, especially in the US, is convenience and taking the guesswork out of making it. We try to provide something super delicious and super easy.

What is the most effective way to market your products?

For us and many other seafood companies, it's about getting our products into people's mouths. As many demos and tastings we can do, we do, and it's really successful for us.

We're working at making great relationships with our retail partners and we try to do work with them very closely and do as many retail demos as we can. If they have specific events or grand openings, those are super popular.

Once consumers taste it, they finally believe that frozen farmed fish can be delicious.

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