Barcelona’s KOA Biotech reels in €2M
Summary
Barcelona-based KOA Biotech, a biotechnology company specialising in innovative solutions for the aquaculture industry, has secured 2M in funding. The round was led by Swanlaab Innvierte Agrifood-Tech, with participation from Fund-F and Faber.KOA Biotech will use the capital to develop its technology, strengthen its position in the sector, and execute its commercial plan for future growth.Nora Alonso, General Partner of Swanlaab Innvierte Agrifood-Tech, says, At Swanlaab, we would like to emphasise that KOAs innovative technology enables the optimisation of natural resource usage, reduces environmental impact, and addresses critical challenges such as production, food security, and climate change.Investing in technological and innovative companies like KOA is key for the development and value creation based on the research conducted in this sector in Spain, as well as a lever for the development and differentiation of the countrys agri-food sector, with a global impact.Additionally, it represents an opportunity to attract foreign investment in this sector, as in the case of KOA, which in this investment round has the participation of two international impact funds, Fund-F and FABER.Over half of the fish consumed globally comes from aquaculture, but infections in fish farms pose a growing issue. This allows for preventive measures in production systems, reducing infection spread, mortality in fish farms, and antibiotic use.The Spanish company says, Our solution is based on an innovative hybrid technology that combines living organisms which can detect pathogens of interest, and a micro-electronic interface to transform the signals in an online platform. This information is thresholded to send early warning alerts when a certain pathogen is exceeding its relative abundance.KOA Biotech was founded as a spin-off of Pompeu Fabra University based on its founders doctoral thesis. The firm supports entrepreneurs in applied sciences, AI, climate and oceans (pre-seed and seed).