Hatch, an aquaculture business accelerator, has announced the eight aquaculture startups selected for its fourth aquaculture accelerator program, scheduled to take place in Bergen, Norway.
Hatch has been investing in aquaculture start-ups for almost three years, and with the latest cohort announcement has invested in 38 companies. Each company selected for the 16-week accelerator program will receive USD 75,000 (EUR 62,863) in cash and USD 55,000 (EUR 46,100) in in-kind services.
“For the 2020 Hatch program we have a record number of applications from a competitive list of companies across the globe,” Hatch Deadflow Manager India Boyer said.
The eight companies are: ANB Sensors, The Plant-Based Seafood Company, Smart Oysters, CFeed, Sea Warden, ExciPlex, SuSeWi, and Blue Lion Labs.
“After we receive the application form, our selection process includes a number of interviews between the company and the Hatch team, and internal due diligence. Our due diligence process includes looking into the team, understanding the technology, market analysis, verifying the traction received to date, and consulting the Hatch network,” Boyer said.
According to Hatch, United Kingdom-based ANB Sensors produces calibration-free pH sensors, with 10 patents filed on its technology. The Plant-Based Seafood Company produces plant-based shrimp analogs in the U.S.; Smart Oysters, based in Australia, created a new software system that helps manage oyster farms; and C-Feed, from Norway, is “involved in the production and distribution of copepods as a live starter feed for marine finfish and shrimp.”
Sea Warden provides data analytics services and remote auditing and is working on a way to monitor aquaculture operations through satellite observations, image capture, and data storage. Exciplex, according to Hatch, is “developing a novel way to detect mycotoxins in fish feeds and aims to produce a handheld testing device.”
SuSeWi is working on ways to replicate algal blooms in land-based facilities, in order to produce aquafeed and as a way to sequester carbon. Blue Lion Labs, based in Canada, is producing machine-learning and AI software to detect potential sea lice larvae and harmful algal species in the ocean to allow aquaculture operations to take action.
Typically Hatch would visit the sites of some of the companies selected in its cohort, but COVID-19 has made that impossible.
“We’re disappointed not to be able to visit all three of our sites together, but we’re confident that we will be able to deliver on a digital level, having been working remotely as a team for much of the last six months,” Hatch Marketing Manager Mortiz Mueller said. “Thankfully, having run three cohorts already, we have plenty of experience to draw on and a professional team to help out this promising new group of companies.”
Photo courtesy of Hatch
