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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

shrimp

New Wave Foods Raises $18M for Plant-Based Seafood

New Wave Foods announced today it has closed an $18 million Series A round for its plant-based seafood alternatives. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates and Evolution VC Partners with participation from “other new and existing investors,” according to a press release sent to The Spoon.

The new round will enable New Wave Foods to scale up production and expand sales and marketing, as well as build out its team and plan for future products. Initially, the company will sell its products directly to restaurants and foodservice businesses, where it says roughly 80 percent of all shrimp in the U.S. is consumed.

Currently, New Wave Foods makes a shrimp alternative from seaweed and plant proteins, the idea being to provide a more planet-friendly version of the U.S.’s most popular seafood item. Deforestation and the permanent destruction of mangroves, increased greenhouse gases, and human rights abuses are just a few of the unsavory byproducts of traditional shrimp production. With its shrimp alternative, New Wave Foods wants to provide product that is “virtually indistinguishable from ocean shrimp in terms of taste and texture” but doesn’t come with the environmental and human consequences tied to parts of the traditional fishing industry.

Tyson Foods made an undisclosed investment in New Wave Foods in 2019, taking a minority stake of less than 20 percent.

Speaking in today’s press release, New Wave said that its shrimp product will be versatile enough to fit in a range of different dishes, though the company hasn’t yet publicly named any official restaurant or foodservice partners.  

Following the launch of its shrimp product, New Wave Foods plans to develop plant-based lobster, scallops, and crab. 

Shiok Meats Nets $500K Investment from Agronomics for Cultured Shrimp

Yesterday Agronomics, a company which invests in animal product alternatives, announced that it had completed a subscription of $500,000 in the form of a convertible loan to cell-based seafood company Shiok Meats (h/t StockMarketWire). Agronomics stated that on conversion, the subscription is expected to own a roughly 2.3 percent share in the Singaporean startup. The loan will convert to shares upon completion of a Series A funding round of $10 million by Shiok Meats.

The Singaporean company raised $4.6 million in April of this year. This latest round of investment brings its total funding to $5.3 million.

Founded in 2018, Shiok Meats is developing seafood — specifically crustaceans — outside of the animal using a technology called cellular aquaculture. Its first product is cell-based shrimp. The company did the first public taste test of its crustaceans back in March, to reportedly positive reviews.

Shiok Meats is one of several companies developing cultured seafood. Wild Type is developing cell-based salmon, BlueNalu has chosen mahi-mahi as its first cultured seafood product, and Finless Foods has stated it will bring its cell-based bluefin tuna to market over the next few years.

However, Shiok Meats is unique in two ways. Firstly it’s focusing on shrimp, which is one of the most widely consumed kinds of seafood in the world (and the number one most consumed in the U.S.) They’re also one of the few cell-based meat (or seafood) companies based in Asia, despite the fact that that’s the area of the world where cultured meat will likely make its market debut.

When I spoke with Shiok Meat’s CEO Dr. Sandhya Sriram back in January, she told me that the company is still likely 3-5 years from commercializing its first product. But with an additional half a million in its pocket, the startup is edging a lot closer to that goal.