Atlantic Fish receives $50K NC IDEA Grant

Atlantic Fish, an emerging Raleigh company developing cultivated seafood, has received a $50,000 SEED grant from North Carolina IDEA, a private foundation supporting the state’s entrepreneurial community. 

“Thank you NC IDEA for this opportunity. Winning the #SEED grant is a big next step for our team at Atlantic Fish Co.,” CEO Doug Grant said. “This was a huge validation for our company to be one of seven winners in a very competitive process with over 100 North Carolina-based startups. This funding will allow us to reduce our costs to be competitive with conventional seafood. We’re one step closer to our mission of creating the world’s most sustainable seafood.”

The SEED grants were announced on Nov. 20 during NC IDEA’s annual Fall Ecosystem Summit, held in Charlotte. The NC IDEA news release noted the grants, totaling $350,000, “offer early-stage companies critical funding needed to scale faster.”

Part of NCBiotech’s research portfolio 

Atlantic Fish previously secured a $100,000 Small Business Research Loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in October 2023. Jen Greenstein, senior director of investments at NCBiotech, said the loan, “will help both Atlantic Fish and the broader cellular agriculture industry in North Carolina.

“We’re looking forward to Atlantic Fish progressing in their development of novel cultivated seafood products,” she said. “This could help lift supply constraints on finfish resistant to aquaculture practices, enabling increased volumes without causing overfishing or affecting ocean biodiversity.”

Atlantic Fish also has secured funding from Triangle-based Sustainable Food Ventures, a fund that invests in early-stage sustainable food companies.

Global need for sustainable seafood production

Seafood is a worldwide favorite, but increasingly, the industry has faced challenges such as overfishing and climate change, reducing the available natural harvest. Aquaculture, now the largest provider of seafood for human consumption, and fish farming are part of the solution but also bring concerns about environmental sustainability.

Cultivated seafood production, as envisioned by Atlantic Fish, is emerging as an important mechanism to increase the world’s supply of protein while reducing environmental costs. The Aug. 7, 2024, issue of the Journal of Biological Engineering article, “Cell-cultivated aquatic food products: emerging production systems for seafood,” emphasized the critical need for and keen interest in seafood cultivation:

“The demand for fish protein continues to increase and currently accounts for 17% of total animal protein consumption by humans. About 90% of marine fish stocks are fished at or above maximum sustainable levels, with aquaculture propagating as one of the fastest-growing food sectors to address some of this demand,” the article authors wrote. 

“Cell-cultivated seafood production is an alternative approach to produce nutritionally-complete seafood products to meet the growing demand. This cellular aquaculture approach offers a sustainable, climate-resilient, and ethical biotechnological approach as an alternative to conventional fishing and fish farming.”

Cultivated black bass ‘nuggets’ pass taste test

In April 2024, Atlantic Fish developed and tested a cultivated black sea bass prototype, a key milestone in the company’s production of sustainable seafood made from harvested fish cells. The company and the North Carolina Food Innovation Lab in Kannapolis announced the prototype development, describing it as “a breakthrough in cellular agriculture.” The company’s black sea bass “nuggets” received positive reviews from a Charlotte chef and a seafood supplier in its first taste tests. 

“Developing the world’s first cultivated sea bass is a win for our company and consumers who want sustainable, ethical seafood,” Grant said. “We will provide seafood that is also free of mercury, antibiotics, or microplastics.”

Large sustainable restaurant market expected

NCFIL interviewed Grant for an October 2024 follow-up story. He described how Atlantic Fish determined its current location and key partnerships.

“There’s a lot of biotech that comes with this. We were looking at San Francisco and Boston, but our investors said, ‘You should really look at the Triangle.’ This led us to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, which led to us getting our lab in Raleigh. To do this technology properly, food science and biotech are critical needs, and both of those are in the Triangle.

“One road led to another, and we connected with NCFIL and [NCFIL Director] Bill Aimutis. NCFIL has recently received a grant from the Bezos Earth Fund for the Alternative Protein Center of Excellence, and they’ve been heavily involved in this space for a while.” 

Other companies in the U.S. and globally are already working on cultivating seafood species, such as tuna and salmon, primarily for the international sushi market. Grant sees a large restaurant market for sustainably produced white, flaky fish such as black sea bass, snapper and grouper. As he told NCFIL, “We worked with about five different species, and the black sea bass cells were growing really quickly and seemed more scalable.”

With fresh funding and an unwavering commitment to producing sustainable seafood, Atlantic Fish is well on its way to achieving the company’s vision: “A future that’s better for people, animals, and the planet.”