Oceanium has announced the first close of a seed funding round worth £2m led by Green Angel Syndicate and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The London and Oban-based seaweed processing business will use the funds to scale up its bio-refinery and processing model to open up the market for the nascent sustainable seaweed farming industry.
Its refinement method has been developed to process seaweed for applications including plant-based foods and sustainable packaging material.
Led by Green Angel Syndicate, the UK's only angel syndicate specialising in the fight against climate change, WWF is an anchor investor alongside Glass Wall Syndicate members Kingfisher Capital, family office and angel investors from Europe, the UK and the US.
The round follows early investment from ocean impact venture capital firm Katapult Ocean and Sky Ocean Ventures, as well as Scottish Enterprise.
Oceanium founder Karen Scofield Seal said: “The calibre of investors in this round of funding highlights the opportunity and obligation we have to create a market for sustainably farmed seaweed and drive systemic change by providing regenerative food and material sources.
“We will continue to work closely with regional and global conservation partners including WWF, Safe Seaweed Coalition and Seaweed for Europe to ensure we lay the best possible foundations for what will be a transformative industry, in terms of both economic, societal and environmental impact.”
Paul Dobbins, senior director of impact investing at WWF, said: “Oceanium’s pioneering expansion of processing capacity for farmed seaweed is an exciting step for the industry.
“Brought to scale, cultivated seaweed could help achieve conservation goals by providing a nutritious source of food and livestock feed with less land and resource inputs - developing an innovative bio-refinery process will also help create feedstock for biodegradable packaging alternatives to petroleum-based plastics.”
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