The documentary Seaspiracy has once again highlighted some of the key issues surrounding overfishing. Yet across the globe fish-based meals are as popular as ever.
Cell-based fish would therefore seem to be a really good option for the planet with the potential to create all kinds of fish analogues in labs.
Yet surprisingly while Blue Nalu has raised $60 million in funding and plans to bring its lab-created tuna to US restaurants by the end of the year, Europe is lagging behind.
Hoping to change all that is Berlin-based Bluu Biosciences, the first company in Europe to specialise in the development and production of cell-based fish. The company was founded last year and now has targeted over 7 million Euros of investment from DX Ventures and others..
The team is headed by Dr. Sebastian Rakers and Simon Fabich and supported marine biologists, cell biologists, cell and tissue engineers, and food technologists. The company also works closely with the Fraunhofer Development Center for Marine and Cellular Biotechnology (EMB) in Lubeck to further develop its products.
Dr Sebastian Rakers, founder and managing director of Bluu Biosciences together with Simon Fabich explained: “With this investment from DX Ventures we have gained a long-term partner who, like us, is committed to greater sustainability in the food sector. With DX Ventures’ strong backing from Delivery Hero SE, a DAX company in Germany, we believe there are many long-term benefits to realize from our partnership. The collaboration is also an incredibly interesting opportunity for future distribution – with the potential to access thousands of great restaurants and kitchens internationally, which we see as an attractive way of accelerating our commercialization roadmap.”
Brendon Blacker, Partner at DX Ventures commented: “Sustainability is at the heart of DX Ventures’ values and we are excited to support Bluu Biosciences to create a more sustainable seafood industry. We decided to partner with Bluu Biosciences after being impressed with the deep expertise of their world-class team and their clear focus on tackling the many challenges associated with the current fishing industry. We also see tremendous potential to leverage our food industry expertise to assist Bluu Biosciences with marketing its cell-based fish products to restaurants and commercial kitchens worldwide.”
