The company's goal is to ensure that seafood can be enjoyed for generations to come without harming animals or the planet's fragile ecosystems. In many regions of the world, fish is already the most important source of animal protein. With a growing world population and higher incomes, demand continues to rise. The fish stocks, on the other hand, are stagnating or falling and in some cases are being pushed to the limits of their capacity. Aquaculture is trying to cope with this, but has its own challenges to contend with. With the help of cultivated fish, Bluu Seafood wants to offer an environmentally friendly alternative.

The process of fish production consists of several steps that combine cell biotechnology and food engineering. First, cells are isolated from a piece of adult fish tissue. These isolated cells, similar to progenitor cells or adult stem cells, are multiplied in the laboratory in an in vitro culture. Since they do not age, they can divide infinitely. The cells are then nourished in a bioreactor with a nutrient medium. With the help of special scaffolding structures on which the cells grow, sufficient mass should ultimately be created for the manufacturing of fish food products.

Currently, the company is focusing on optimising the cell culture medium to ensure cost-effective production of the fish cells and to refine cell characteristics such as taste and texture. This is achieved, for example, by increasing the proportion of omega-3 fatty acids as an important flavor carrier. The technology required for this has been licensed from the Fraunhofer EMB. The first products are to be launched on the market in 2023/24.

What are the benefits?

• Resource efficiency
• Health benefits
• No use of sensitive ecosystems
• No animal suffering, no killing required
• Less waste, no byproducts
• Significantly less CO2 emission
• Less pollutants, contaminants
• Less transport costs

How is it different to cultivated meat?

• Less energy cost: Fish cells can be cultivated at room temperature, which saves costs, while mammalian cells need 37°.
• More robust: Fish cells are more tolerant to varying oxygen levels than mammals, an advantage for processes in bioreactors where low oxygen levels are occurring.

Simpler structure: Meat structure of fish is significantly less complex than mammalian meat consisting mostly of only muscle tissue.

05/2021: Expanded seed funding

• Volume: undisclosed
• Participating investor: DX Ventures (Delivery Hero)

03/2021: Seed funding

• Volume: €7m
• Participating investors: EVIG Group, Manta Ray Ventures, CPT Capital, Lever VC, Norrsken, Be8