Plant-based seafood producer will put salmon alternative in restaurants this year after VCs splash out the cash

Canada-based alternative seafood producer New School Foods has raised $12 million (€11 million) in seed funding for technology that it says produces whole-cut salmon alternatives.

The company said it expects to launch its plant-based salmon through a chef pilot program in numerous restaurants across North America this year.

The company, which was founded three years ago, says it produces a fish fillet that combines "directionally aligned muscle fibers" with plant-based connective tissue, fats, colors and flavors.

"Unlike nearly all other products in the market that are pre-cooked by production, New School Foods’ cold-based processing technology creates a fillet that starts raw and transforms like fish upon cooking," the company said in a news release.

Seed funding came from investors Lever VC, Blue Horizon, Hatch, Good Startup, Alwyn Capital, Joyance Partners, as well as grants from multiple agencies, including Protein Industry Canada.

The plant-based producer said it will use the funds to expand its team of food scientists, scale up its scaffolding technology, and build out a research and production facility.

Earlier this month, cell-based salmon group Wildtype said it too expects American consumers will see their product at select US restaurants sometime this year.

Wildtype's pilot plant in San Francisco is gearing up to produce enough of its ready-to-eat, sushi-grade salmon portions to supply a "handful of restaurants" sometime later this year, Wildtype Co-Founder Aryé Elfenbein told IntraFish.