NEWS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE October 2024 103 Cooke joins GSSI as Funding Partner One of the largest precompetitive collaborations in the world, The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) announced that Cooke Inc. joined GSSI as a funding partner. Cooke’s core purpose is to cultivate the ocean with care, nourish the world, provide for families, and build stronger communities – this aligns closely with the vision of GSSI, according to the announcement. Sustainable development has been a driving force for Cooke, with investment in science-based marine practices and innovation, allowing them to bring a healthy and sustainable protein source to tables around the world. As a GSSI Partner, Cooke aims to play a larger role in empowering GSSI’s sustainability leaders to collaborate and share knowledge to ensure confidence in the supply of certified seafood. Read more>> Biotech startup secures £14m funding to produce microalgae-based Omega-3 University of Edinburgh student startup MiAlgae, which uses co-products from the whisky industry to sustainably produce Omega-3 for fish feed, has secured £14 million in funding to build an industrial scale production facility in Scotland. Founded by Douglas Martin while he was studying for an MSc in Synthetic Biology and Biotechnology in 2016, MiAlgae has now reached commercial-scale of its sustainable marine Omega-3 product, NaturAlgae, at its demonstrator site in Balfron, Stirlingshire, Scotland. New venture capital investors SWEN, Blue Ocean, Clay Capital and Rabo Ventures joined existing backers Equity Gap, Old College Capital (OCC) – the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund, Social Investment Scotland (SIS) Ventures, Ananke Ventures, Ascension Ventures, and Scottish Enterprise in the oversubscribed funding round. The global aquaculture industry has expanded more than fivefold in the last 30 years to help feed the growing world population. However, the supply of fish oil, which is the primary source of Omega-3s for farmed fish, has remained stagnant at around one million tons per year. This fish oil is derived by harvesting 20 million tons of wild-caught fish annually, a practice that is both unsustainable and harmful to marine ecosystems. The 2023 launch of MiAlgae's demonstrator site has reportedly proven the viability of its cutting-edge approach. By repurposing nutrient-rich by-products from whisky distillation, the company grows microalgae, providing an eco-friendly source of Omega-3s. Building on this success, MiAlgae is now gearing up to take the next step with the development of an industrial scale production facility in Scotland. The company claims that the new site will enable full commercialization of NaturAlgae, meeting rising demand across the aquaculture, pet food, and human health sectors for sustainable Omega-3s. This expansion will boost MiAlgae’s production capacity, fuel its global growth, and create new ‘green’ jobs. Read more>>
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