Prospective Research, a Boston-based biotech company, raised $1.7 million (€1.5 million) in Series A funding to help it extend its bacterial growth reduction research into aquaculture, build innovative products to stop the use of antibiotics and medicated feed in aquaculture.
The startup, which is part of the HATCH Aquaculture Accelerator portfolio of disruptive aquaculture tech companies, recently started researching aquaculture drugs, after spending four years developing treatments for human infections.
Prospective Research uses microbiomes -- genetic bacteria in the organism -- to replace the need for antibiotics and medicated feed in the aquaculture industry.
After discussing innovations to treat bacteria on a human level, the startup decided to explore a different industry.
“The move to aquaculture was more of a market fit. We spent the last four years controlling bacterial growth and finding antibiotics for humans," Prospective Research CEO Dakota Hamil told IntraFish.
Human applications of the technology, however, would have needed US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, which is why the company switched focus.
"We landed on aquaculture because the supply is supposed to double by 2030, while antibiotic use is restricted in the sector,” Hamil said. In addition, barrier to entry was lower in the sector, and the group felt it could have more impact on the sector.
Most of the funding the company was granted will be used to expand Prospective's infrastructure capacity over the next two years, Hamil said.
The current focus for product development is for early mortality syndrome (EMS) in shrimp and sea lice in salmon through in-vitro trials.
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