NEWS 88 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE May 2022 Aqua-Spark invests in Kuehnle AgroSystems Kuehnle AgroSystems ("KAS"), an innovative Hawaii-based microalgae development company, has closed a Series A funding round with new investor, Aqua-Spark. As the pioneer fund for sustainable aquaculture, Aqua-Spark is investing significant resources to support the transfer of KAS' pioneering technology to industrial scale. As an algae strain and ingredients development company, KAS has patented a novel platform process for the sustainable fermentation production of multiple economically relevant algae. For their lead product, this process is combined with KAS' unique non-GM strain of Haematococcus pluvialis to enable KAS to produce high levels of natural astaxanthin, affordably and at scale. Astaxanthin is commonly used as a pigment and antioxidant in aquafeed for salmonids and shrimp, and as a highly potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory with many documented health benefits in human nutraceuticals. These markets combined are estimated to be valued at around $1 billion per annum. Among pipeline products enabled by KAS' patent is a source of highly nutritious human protein and essential fatty acids from Chlamydomonas algae. In the wild, salmonids and shrimp consume astaxanthin from plankton and zooplankton, which gives them the antioxidants they need to thrive and enhances their pigmentation to produce an appealing pink color. To ensure farmed salmonids develop a color similar to wild salmon, astaxanthin alternatives are used as a feed additive. Hawaii-based microalgae development company Kuehnle AgroSystems (KAS) has closed a Series A funding round with new investor, Aqua-Spark. FEFAC and ITC announced that five more schemes offering responsible soy products to the European feed market have successfully passed the independent benchmarking process against the FEFAC Soy Sourcing Guidelines 2021. This brings the total number to 20 responsible soy schemes which are compliant with the FEFAC Soy Sourcing Guidelines 2021, showing the strong commitment of supply chain partners to strengthen and support the European feed industry’s efforts to foster the mainstream market transformation of the use of responsibly produced soy products. 19 out of 20 schemes also comply with the specific desired criterion on conversion-free soy, meaning they offer responsibly produced soy grown on land that didn’t come at the expense of any (illegal or legal) conversion of natural eco-systems (i.e. including non-forest native vegetation in the Cerrado Biome) as from a specific cut-off date (December 2020 as the latest possibility). All schemes having successfully applied and passed the benchmarking process are displayed in the updated FEFAC Soy Sourcing Guidelines Benchmarking Tool on ITC Standards Map. The tool includes a filter system for schemes providing conversion-free soy, which allows users to select between the different supply chain models and two periods of cut-off dates. 20 soybean schemes pass benchmarking process against FEFAC guidelines
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