Launched in 2018, OCEANIUM’s mentioned its mission is to allow and unlock the rising sustainable seaweed farming business within the Western hemisphere by extracting most worth from seaweed.
It mentioned the newest funding will scale its proprietary biorefinery know-how and speed up the commercialisation of OCEANIUM’s meals substances, bioactives for well being and cosmetics, and progressive supplies for luxurious packaging and textiles to satisfy market demand.
OCEANIUM’s enterprise mannequin relies on proprietary biorefinery know-how which extracts most worth from sustainably farmed seaweed: a regenerative, resilient, and nutrient-rich marine plant and the last word sustainable biomass for plant-based meals, nutraceuticals and supplies markets.
Modern seaweed-based supplies can substitute useful resource intensive merchandise, the corporate claimed. “Seaweed farming is a regenerative type of aquaculture with the potential for quite a few environmental, financial, and societal advantages. OCEANIUM’s biorefinery mannequin gives a path for a scaled seaweed business to contribute to meals safety and provide as a quantity purchaser of farmed seaweed.”
One ingredient produced by the agency is a high-fibre seaweed-based one-for-one methylcellulose substitute for plant-based meat which can be utilized in different merchandise purposes together with gluten-free breads and drinks. Referred to as OCEAN HEALTH Fiber and described as a sustainable dietary fiber from seaweed, it has obtained GRAS standing within the U.S., regulatory approval within the UK and EU, and is receiving business traction from world meals corporations trying to combine sustainable substances into their merchandise.
Containing 69% dietary fibre, made up of each soluble and insoluble fibres, and a combination of proteins and minerals, the corporate additional hopes the ingredient could assist deal with the shortage of dietary fibre in most trendy diets. Seaweed also can help improved vitamin and diets as a supply of plant-based protein and vitamins resembling zinc, magnesium, and Nutritional vitamins A, B12, and Okay, in keeping with the corporate.
OCEANIUM mentioned it’ll use the financing to commercialize its meals substances and nutraceutical merchandise, proceed improvement of progressive supplies, and full the preparations for the “shovel-ready” set up of a scaled seaweed biorefinery deliberate beneath its Collection A fundraising.
Farmed seaweed additionally boasts quite a few environmental, social and financial advantages, in keeping with the corporate. Co-founder and CTO Charlie Bavington lately advised FoodNavigator it regards farmed seaweed as “essentially the most sustainable biomass on the planet due to its environmental and societal advantages”.
Sustainably farmed seaweed, he advised us, gives jobs alongside rural coastal areas, mitigates eutrophication by absorbing nitrogen and phosphorous, will increase biodiversity by defending nursery grounds and seabeds. Seaweed farms don’t want cleared land, recent water, insecticide or fertilizer.
Saying the newest fundraise, he added: “We’re delighted that our current buyers in addition to the brand new extremely famend impression buyers contributed to the success of this financing spherical. In a short while, we’ve quickly developed our biorefinery know-how from lab bench to TRL 6-8 (system full and certified), and a few of our substances to TRL 7/8. This spherical helps us to realize the thrilling subsequent step of delivering for our clients.”
James Lindsay, Principal at Builders Imaginative and prescient, the VC that led the funding spherical, mentioned: “Seaweed can play a worthwhile function in addressing local weather change and creating sustainable meals sources, however we’d like innovators like OCEANIUM to champion seaweed manufacturing and spotlight its wide selection of makes use of. Builders Imaginative and prescient is dedicated to investing in tangible options that contribute to a extra humane and wholesome planet, and we’re honoured to proceed supporting OCEANIUM because it appears to scale and speed up the seaweed farming business by way of its progressive processing know-how and seaweed-based merchandise.”
