Investment in Seaweed Sees Major Growth

Seaweed Sees Major Growth

The seaweed industry saw the number of investment deals double in 2021, from 17 to 34, and the amount invested grew by 36% to $168 million.

Phyconomy, an information portal for the seaweed industry, has released its State of the Industry 2022. The report shows that a vibrant seaweed industry is emerging outside of Asia, and investors are beginning to take it seriously. The industry saw the number of investment deals double in 2021, from 17 to 34, and the amount invested over the past year grew by 36% to $168 million. 

While these numbers are small compared to fish and shrimp aquaculture investment, the upward trend is impressive. The number of seed rounds grew from 12 to 20, and the number of Series A or B jumped from 1 to 9, which shows the seaweed industry is beginning to break out of its hatchling stage. 


The startups that scored the biggest rounds in 2021 included Norwegian biorefinery Alginor ($33M) and Australia’s Sea Forest ($26M), tackling livestock methane emissions. Rounding out the top five were New Wave Foods ($18M — plant-based shrimp), Ocean’s Halo ($16M — seaweed snacks), and Notpla ($13.5M — bioplastics). 

Other report highlights:

  • While traditional venture capital firms are starting to discover seaweed, impact investors are still overrepresented in the space.
  • Europe has the most vibrant seaweed startup ecosystem, but North American startups find it easier to attract capital.
  • The number of new seaweed startups has grown by 50% in the past two years.
  • The midstream of the value chain is still underserved: processing and distribution is a field that is lacking innovators and entrepreneurs.

As a crop that doesn’t use land, fresh water or fertilizer but instead takes up CO₂ and excess nutrients from the ocean, seaweed is being billed as the biomass of the future, with applications in food, feed, pharmaceuticals, textiles, personal care, soil health, construction, packaging, energy, carbon sequestration, and bioremediation.

All rights reserved. Permission required to reprint articles in their entirety. Must include copyright statement and live hyperlinks. Contact david@algaeplanet.com. Algae Planet accepts unsolicited manuscripts for consideration, and takes no responsibility for the validity of claims made in submitted editorial.

Seagriculture EU 2024
AlgaeMetrics

Subscribe

EABA AlgaeEurope23
Hire Robin Coles Technical Writer

Breaking-News

  • December 8, 2023: Researchers at Seoul National University of Science and Technology found that brown seaweed consumption is an effective dietary supplement against both type 2 diabetes risk and as an intervention to regular blood glucose levels in patients suffering from the condition. READ MORE...
  • December 4, 2023: New generation ultrasonic technologies used to mitigate unwanted algae are a leap beyond the first systems that came to market more than two decades ago. The latest systems transmit more than 4,400 frequencies and ensure that the proper and most effective resonance is applied to emerging or well-established algal blooms. READ MORE...
  • December 1, 2023: Collecting, identifying, describing, and naming new species of seaweed that live in deeper waters off Hawaiʻi is the focus of a new University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa research project that received a $892,290 grant from the National Science Foundation. READ MORE...

A Beginner’s Guide