FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Mia Montanile, BlueNalu
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BlueNalu Secures $60 Million in Convertible Note Financing
Financing will enable completion of world’s first commercial pilot facility for producing cell-based seafood, and support plans for market launch in late 2021
January 19, 2021 – San Diego, Calif. BlueNalu, a leading innovative food company producing a variety of seafood products directly from fish cells, today announced the closing of $60 million in debt financing from new and existing investors. This marks the largest financing to date in the cell-based seafood industry worldwide. Previously, BlueNalu announced completion of its Series A round of $20 million in early 2020, and its Series Seed round of $4.5 million in early 2018.
The financing is intended to enable BlueNalu to achieve several significant milestones over the coming year, including opening a nearly 40,000 square foot pilot production facility, completing FDA regulatory review for its first products, and initiating marketplace testing in a variety of foodservice establishments throughout the United States.
“The team at BlueNalu is driven to produce cell-based seafood products that are healthy for consumers, humane for animals, sustainable for our planet, and provide increased food security to each nation in which we go to market,” stated Lou Cooperhouse, BlueNalu’s President and CEO. “This recent financing will allow us to continue advancing our mission and the next phase of our commercialization plans, while we continue to develop strategic partnerships that we expect will provide us with global market reach during the coming years.”
BlueNalu plans to introduce a wide variety of cell-based seafood products from its pilot production facility in San Diego. The company anticipates starting with the launch of mahi mahi later this year, followed by the launch of a premium bluefin tuna thereafter.
“The global market for seafood is highly vulnerable today and is valued at an estimated $200 billion. With strong investor support, our innovative and visionary management team demonstrates a clear value proposition, technology, IP, and a comprehensive regulatory strategy, all of which provide a solid foundation as we move closer to our in-market launch,” said Amir Feder, BlueNalu’s CFO.
BlueNalu is currently establishing joint venture partnerships within key markets where it will operate. These partnerships are expected to enable them to navigate regulatory pathways, lower the cost of goods, introduce new species and new product forms, and inform their global market strategy. Previously, BlueNalu announced five global strategic investment partners: Nutreco, based in the Netherlands; Pulmuone, based in South Korea; Sumitomo, based in Japan; and Griffith Foods and Rich Products Corporation, based in the U.S.
Rage Capital led the $60 million convertible note financing, and other significant participants include Agronomics, Lewis & Clark AgriFood, McWin, and Siddhi Capital. Strategic investors in this financing include Radicle Growth, by way of the Radicle Protein Challenge by Syngenta; Rich Products Corporation; and Thai Union. A partial list of other investors includes: AiiM Partners, Clear Current Capital, CPT Capital, Flat World Partners, KBW Ventures, Losa Group, OurCrowd, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Stray Dog Ventures.
BlueNalu currently has a three-member Board of Directors – Lou Cooperhouse, Chris Kerr of Unovis/New Crop Capital, and Chuck Laue of Stray Dog Capital – and previously had six Observers to its Board. As part of this financing, BlueNalu added four new Observers to its Board of Directors: Steven Finn of Siddhi Capital, Jim Mellon of Agronomics, Larry Page of Lewis & Clark AgriFood, and Alex Ruimy of Rage Capital.
For more information about BlueNalu, photos and quotes from selected BlueNalu investors and Board members please visit www.bluenalu.com/press-room.
About BlueNalu
BlueNalu’s mission is to develop great tasting, healthy, safe, and trusted cell-based seafood products that support the sustainability and diversity of our ocean. BlueNalu is aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for our planet. BlueNalu began its operations in 2018 and is based in San Diego, California.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements related to the market size, market demand and necessity of BlueNalu’s products, the development and commercialization of BlueNalu’s products, the launching of BlueNalu’s products publicly, the type and characteristics of products that BlueNalu will produce, and BlueNalu’s ability to build out its facilities, receive regulatory approvals and build partnerships. These forward-looking statements are based on BlueNalu’s current expectations and inherently involve significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation, risks that BlueNalu’s actual future financial and operating results may differ from its expectations or goals, BlueNalu’s ability to commercialize and successfully launch its products, risks relating to BlueNalu’s ability to successfully implement its business strategies, competition, including potential generic competition, the ability to protect intellectual property and defend patents, regulatory obligations and oversight, including any changes in the legal and regulatory environment in which BlueNalu operates among others. BlueNalu undertakes no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information.
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Quotes from Board Members and Selected Investors participating in January 2021 BlueNalu financing
BlueNalu Board Members
Chris Kerr, Board Member and investor of BlueNalu, and Chief Investment Officer of Unovis/New Crop Capital
“As a long-time investor in food products that can change the world for the better, I’m proud to partner with a team that will revolutionize the seafood industry. The current seafood industry cannot keep up with demand. We are overfishing the oceans, killing billions of fish each year, risking the lives of fishermen and damaging delicate ecosystems in the process. BlueNalu will bring delicious and healthy cell-based seafood to consumers around the world while preserving our environment, honoring animal welfare, and protecting people.”
Chuck Laue, Board Member and investor of BlueNalu, and Founder/Chair of Stray Dog Capital
“The BlueNalu team has done a stellar job with each step of the growth process. They have assembled a highly capable and mission-driven team with experience in myriad disciplines, and they are going to change the way the world consumes seafood. They are using science, technology, engineering and innovation to protect our planet. I’m excited and honored to participate in such an important venture.”
Lead Investor
Alex Ruimy, Managing Partner at Rage Capital
“BlueNalu’s technology is the next phase in the continuous agricultural revolution. What the team has built, and continues to build, promises to change the way we source and eat fish. We are extremely excited to back a best-in-class management team on a mission that can truly change the world.”
Significant Participants
Thiraphong Chansiri, President and CEO of Thai Union
“Thai Union is an industry leader in innovation and sustainability, and cell-based seafood perfectly aligns with both of these goals. BlueNalu and its experienced team is at the forefront of cell-based seafood technology, with strong process capabilities to scale-up seafood in a sustainable manner. We are excited to work with them and look forward to exploring collaboration opportunities.”
Steven Finn, co-founder and General Partner of Siddhi Capital
“Siddhi Capital is thrilled to deepen our relationship with BlueNalu. The scale of the opportunity is overwhelming, the time is now, and this new financing will significantly push the company forward in their truly unique approach to creating an all new seafood supply chain that is better for consumers and the environment."
Dinsh Guzdar, Managing Director Rich Products Corporate Venture Fund
“We’re excited to continue backing BlueNalu as they finalize their pilot manufacturing facility for cell-based seafood. Their executive team has impressed us with the speed by which their process moves forward, with quality and safety at the forefront of what they’re doing. Consumers should be excited to see what’s to come in the months ahead.”
Kirk Haney, Managing Partner, Radicle Growth
“After reviewing the technologies from protein innovators across the globe last Fall with Syngenta as part of the Radicle Protein Challenge by Syngenta, we were extremely impressed with BlueNalu, Inc.'s novel approach to developing seafood products directly from fish cells in order to help our supply chain keep pace with seafood demand and changing consumer preferences. This is why BlueNalu was named one of the Challenge winners from a record number of applicants from across the world. This investment further validates the cell-based seafood space, the strength of BlueNalu's solutions and team, and will help BlueNalu achieve all of the milestones required to chart to market launch this year. We are humbled to have such an impressive company in our portfolio and look forward to working together in this extremely exciting year for the company."
Henry McGovern, Partner, McWin
"As food operators with decades of experience in the hospitality sector, we have no doubt that emerging food technologies will revolutionize the way we meet the rapidly growing global demand for protein. We believe that cell-based meats will topple the paradigms of protein production at the most fundamental levels, and that BlueNalu will someday be a case study of a company that contributed to building a healthier, greener, and more ethical world, while also producing outsized returns for impact investors.”
Jim Mellon, Director and principal shareholder of Agronomics
“BlueNalu, with this landmark financing, has once again demonstrated that a good idea, a seasoned management team and clever science can combine to create something remarkable. The speed and adroitness with which Lou and his team have executed thus far is to be applauded, and we at Agronomics are very pleased to be investors and thought partners with the world’s leading seafood cell-agriculture company. BlueNalu features heavily in my new book, Moo’s Law, as an exemplar for the cell-ag space.”
Larry Page, Managing Director, Lewis & Clark AgriFood
“Lewis & Clark is proud to partner with BlueNalu in the next phase of the company's growth. We have looked at a wide variety of companies in the cellular agriculture industry, and find BlueNalu differentiated in two key areas. First, their early focus on ocean-going finfish that have to date proven difficult to farm means that they are creating a product whose alternative must be harvested from the wild. Second, the team has a great set of technical leaders, and BlueNalu has a unique COGS-reduction strategy that should enable them to get to scale very quickly."
HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, founder and CEO, KBW Ventures
“We have increased our stake in BlueNalu by investing for the second time. Our commitment to inject further capital is based on the company’s impressive forward roadmap, detailing a clear path to ramping up production and bringing its first product to market. KBW Ventures is pleased to play a role in the largest financing ever for a cell-based seafood company, aligning ourselves with mission-driven businesses that seek to solve the world’s food security issues sustainably.”
