Blue Ocean Barns announces closing of funding round for production of methane-cutting seaweed. The $5 million round is led by Valor Siren Ventures.
Blue Ocean Barns announced the closure of a new, $5 million seed round of capital, bringing the sustainable agriculture company’s total raised to date to $6.6 million.
The funding round, led by Valor Siren Ventures, will support a significant expansion of Blue Ocean Barns’ farming operations as it readies for commercial sale of its seaweed-based cattle supplement. This week, Blue Ocean Barns signed a lease for 10 additional acres of growing space near its existing operations on the Big Island of Hawai’i.
“Blue Ocean Barns is driven by our mission to mitigate climate change by slashing cattle methane emissions by more than 80%,” said Joan Salwen, co-founder and CEO of Blue Ocean Barns. “Alongside our investors in our most successful fundraising round to date, we’re ready to expand operations, provide a sustainable feed supplement for cattle farmers committed to shrinking their carbon footprint, and assist forward-thinking dairy and beef companies eager to face climate challenges head-on.”
Blue Ocean Barns produces a cattle supplement made with a specific type of seaweed, Asparagopsis, that has been proved in multiple university studies to reduce methane output from cattle by more than 80%, eliminating a greenhouse gas that is at least 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. In addition, research from the University of California, Davis, showed that cattle given a supplement derived from the same seaweed grown by Blue Ocean Barns lowered farmers’ feed requirements by 14% with little to no impact on cattle weight. Dairy and beef trials have shown that the seaweed supplement is safe and does not impact the flavor, fragrance or texture of milk or beef.
Blue Ocean Barns is the first U.S. licensee for FutureFeed, the global IP holder for the technology of feeding the red seaweed Asparagopsis to cattle. Blue Ocean Barns has 11 pending applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for technology related to the growth, cultivation and compositions of the seaweed.
Blue Ocean Barns plans to make its proprietary, seaweed-based feed supplement commercially available to farmers and beef producers later this year.
