Sea6 Energy raises USD 9 million in funding for Ocean farming

BENGALURU, 22 July 2021: Bengaluru-based ocean farming startup Sea6 Energy has recently raised USD 9 million as a part of its Series B funding round led by Netherlands-based aquaculture fund Aqua-Spark. Silverstrand Capital a Singapore-based company also participated as a part of this round.

As per the company, the new funds will contribute towards the financing of additional SeaCombine systems to increase the supply of seaweed raw material and expand Sea6’s processing capacity through setting up additional facilities.

The ten-year-old startup has developed a proprietary cultivation mechanism called SeaCombine, which can simultaneously harvest and replant seaweed in deep ocean waters, enabling cost-competitive production at scale.

The startup has also developed proprietary technologies to convert fresh seaweed into environmentally friendly products for a range of industries including agriculture, animal health, food ingredients, bioplastics, and renewable chemicals.

Shrikumar Suryanarayan, managing director and co-founder, Sea6 Energy said “We are delighted to be part of Aqua-Spark’s portfolio of companies. Aqua-Spark's vision of sustainability is very well aligned with Sea6's own vision. At Sea6 Energy, we are focused on cultivating and processing tropical seaweed species. The fact that seaweed cultivation is a very sustainable operation makes this biomass a versatile and ideal raw material that can be used for a variety of industrial purposes to greatly reduce their carbon footprint."

Sea6 exports its patented agriculture biostimulant product to countries like the USA, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

The company had earlier received an investment from Tata Capital Innovation Fund in 2015 as part of their Series A funding.

“Investing in seaweed production has been a priority for us since we launched in 2015 but, until now, we hadn’t come upon an operation that was both economically viable and was able to produce at scale. Sea6's first-of-its-kind innovation is well-positioned to impact how we farm seaweed and its utilization across industries," said Mike Velings and Amy Novogratz, co-founders of Aqua-Spark.

Image credit: borgenmagazine.com