Sustainable Seafood: Atlantic Fish Co. secures new funding to propel growth | North Carolina Biotechnology Center
Summary
Its another step in the companys efforts to launch production and begin selling cultivated seafood, primarily to restaurants.Grant co-founded Atlantic Fish in 2020 after studying food sustainability and interviewing people in the industry. He and co-founder Trevor Ham chose the Triangle because of its growing agribusiness and biotechnology industries.From their Raleigh lab, Grant and a small team develop cultivated fish from harvested cells, using a bioreactor to supply nutrients for cell growth and a scaffolding as a growth structure. So thats a great place to start with cellular agriculture, having something that can be available year-round thats not dependent on fishing seasons or availability or international supply chains.Atlantic Fish has secured funding from Triangle-based Sustainable Food Ventures, a fund that invests in early-stage sustainable food companies. So theres not any cultivated seafood on the market yet in the U.S.Jen Greenstein, senior director of investments at NCBiotech, said the NCBiotech loan will help both Atlantic Fish and the broader cellular agriculture industry in North Carolina.Were looking forward to Atlantic Fish progressing in their development of novel cultivated seafood products, she said. This could help lift supply constraints on finfish resistant to aquaculture practices, enabling increased volumes without causing overfishing or affecting ocean biodiversity.