Investment firm Big Idea Ventures has made a series of investments in the alternative-seafood space via its $50 million (€50 million) New Protein Fund I.

The firm's first fund is investing in five alternative-seafood companies: German-based Esencia, UK-based Food Squared, Iceland-based Loki Foods and Singapore-based ImpacFat and Sono Biosciences.

A total of 17 early-stage startups were selected for pre-seed investment as part of Big Idea Ventures’ bi-annual accelerator program.

“The companies in our latest cohort are working to solve key challenges in the alternative-protein industry," said Andrew Ive, Big Idea Ventures founder and managing general partner.