Aqua-Spark, the Netherlands-based global investment fund focused on sustainable aquaculture, has led a funding round for Israeli cultivated seafood producer Wanda Fish Technologies and has made the company part of its portfolio.
Wanda Fish secured $7 million (€6.6 million) in seed funding, led by Aqua-Spark. Wanda Fish said the new injection of capital will boost Wanda Fish's ability to accelerate the creation and increase the scale of a cell-cultivated whole-cut filet of bluefin tuna.
"In such a burgeoning and innovative sector, we are pleased to welcome Wanda Fish into our portfolio of companies based on the remarkable speed with which they've met significant milestones," said Lissy Smit, CEO of Aqua-Spark. "We firmly believe in a future where sustainably farmed and cultivated seafood will work in concert with one another to alleviate the burden of overfishing, especially species like bluefin tuna which are deemed unsustainable to farm."
Ace Aquatec, BioFishency, Bluegrove, Calysta, Chicoa Fish Farm, Ecto, eFishery, enerGaia, eniferBio, Fisher, Hatch, HBC, IOT, KAS, Lake Harvest, Matorka, Molo, OceanoFresco, Proteon Pharmaceuticals, Protix, Sea6 Energy, Shiok Meats, Swedish Algae Factory, Tepbac, Xpert Sea, Wanda Fish
Additional funding came from returning pre-seed investors The Kitchen Hub by the Strauss Group, Peregrine Ventures, LLC, PICO Venture Partners, MOREVC, and CPT Capital, LLP. Since its inception in 2021, Wanda Fish has raised $10 million (€9.5 million) in funding.
Aqua-Spark had more than €457 million ($486.3 million) assets under management in 2022, up 50 percent from almost €300 million ($329.7 million) in 2021. Total cumulative invested capital in 2022 also climbed 19 percent to €190 million ($208.8 million) in 2022.
Plant-based products account for the vast majority of items in the emerging alternative-seafood space, but the outlook for cell-based seafood products is much more promising and has been strengthened this year by two policy rulings in the United States and the Netherlands.
The moves are significant, as is the investment in cell-cultured seafood companies, because they are fueling a sector that has the potential to seriously reshape the global supply chain in the coming years.
