Ocean Rainforest to expand kelp production following $6.2 million raise
Summary
The company recently secured the first ever cultivation permit for seaweed in US federal waters \xa9 Harald BjorgvinBased in the Faroe Islands and California, since 2010, the company has developed a proven open ocean cultivation system suitable for offshore conditions in the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Ocean Rainforest is currently among the largest commercial seaweed cultivators in Europe and has obtained the first-ever offshore seaweed cultivation permit in United States federal waters, off the coast of Santa Barbara.The new investment funding allows Ocean Rainforest to scale up seaweed production to supply the functional food and feed markets leveraging existing company facilities in the Faroe Islands, while also expanding its operations in California.Marc von Keitz, director at the Grantham Foundation, which led the funding round, said in a press release: We are excited about Ocean Rainforests capabilities to successfully grow seaweed in open ocean environments. This funding will significantly expand their production into off-shore waters and will be critical to meet growing market demand and to reach climate-relevant scale.Other investors include Katapult Oceans Deep Blue fund, Builders Vision and the Ocean Born Foundation. Existing shareholders World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US), Nor\xf0oya \xcdl\xf8gufelag and Twynam Invest also participated in the round.With limited environmental impacts and a low carbon footprint, seaweed absorbs CO and other excess nutrients from the ocean, making this fast-growing crop a climate-smart and nutritious food source, said Paul Dobbins, senior director of impact investing at World Wildlife Fund - US. Ocean Rainforest is addressing the feed market and their successful capital raise shines a spotlight on this growing opportunity.