Hatch Blue has invested USD 2 million (EUR 1.7 million) in Nernst Electric, a Bray, Ireland-based startup working to develop on-site oxygen generation for fish farms.
Hatch Blue said the seed funding comes from its Blue Revolution Fund, a EUR 92 million (USD 104 million) fund intended for investments in sustainable aquaculture. The firm said the on-site oxygen generation being developed by Nernst Electric could address a costly operational dependency in the aquaculture sector, reducing costs and increasing sustainability.
Nernst’s technology utilizes a ceramic membrane to generate high-purity oxygen from ambient air on site. The company said its system can serve as a reliable, energy-efficient source of oxygen to replace existing methods of supplying oxygen, which is often done via trucked-in liquid oxygen that it produced in central locations using generators.
The company said the technology uses outside aquaculture as a means of generating high-purity oxygen – which is greater than 99 percent pure oxygen – for industrial purposes.
“For decades, the limitations of conventional on-site oxygen generation have held back productivity across industries including aquaculture, mining, metallurgy, and steelmaking,” Nernst Electric CEO Nic Farandos said. “Our breakthrough reactor technology removes those barriers, enabling the most efficient oxygen production at any scale with near-zero maintenance and the industry's lowest operating costs.”
Hatch Blue said Nernst Electric first joined its portfolio in July 2025 and received pre-seed funding from its Accelerator Fund II. It later participated in an Aquatech Innovation Studio, which was organized jointly with Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Ireland’s seafood development agency.
“Since Nernst joined our Accelerator Fund, its progress has been fast and convincing,” Hatch Blue Early Stage Investments Managing Director Caitriona Kelleher said. “The team came in with a manufacturing concept and have built it into a working system ready for its first aquaculture deployment. That kind of technical execution is impressive – and it is precisely why the Blue Revolution Fund is the right backer to take it further."
The seed capital will help the company construct a demonstration unit to validate its performance in the field ahead of a planned commercial deployment of the new technology.
“Aquaculture is generating commercially attractive innovation at pace, and the sector's own fundamentals are strong. Much of that innovation also has reach well beyond it,” Hatch Blue Managing Partner and Co-Founder Carsten Krome said. “Nernst is a clear example: The platform that solves critical oxygen supply for fish farms has industrial-scale application across heavy industry. That is exactly what gives the Blue Revolution Fund the conviction to back it.”
