Cell-based seafood startup BlueNalu on Wednesday completed a $20 million (€18.4 million) Series A fund raising, bringing on a new crop of investors including SeaPak parent Rich Products, Saudi Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, Nutreco and a suite of private investors.
The new financiers demonstrate BlueNalu's ambitions to begin distribution and wide-scale production in the food sector both in the United States and globally.
Rich Products Ventures, the corporate venture arm of SeaPak parent Rich Products, sells a range of food products internationally, with a huge reach into the US frozen food sector in particular, where its SeaPak brand is among the top sellers in the retail aisle. Rich Products recently extended its reach into the frozen and chilled seafood sector with the acquisition of Morey's Seafood.
Griffiths Foods, Pulmuone and Sumimoto, other participants in the latest round of funding, all operate in food distribution, marketing, sales, logistics or production.
Stray Dog Capital, CPT Capital, New Crop Capital and Clear Current Capital -- all investors in BlueNalu's seed funding round -- co-led the latest round, but a new group of high-profile investors joined as well, including Khaled bin Alwaleed's KBW Ventures. KBW's investments include Beyond Meat, maker of the Beyond Burger, and cell-based beef grower Memphis Meats.
The new investment will allow BlueNalu to ramp up its team, strike new partnerships and prepare for a market launch, the company said.
San-Diego based BlueNalu raised $4.5 million during its seed round of financing in 2018, to develop the methods to produce seafood directly from real fish cells.
