Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-based Ocean Harvest is aiming to raise USD 180 million of mixed equity and debt to finance its land-based Atlantic salmon farming project.
Created in 2021 by the founders of tomato hydroponics firm Pure Harvest, Ocean Harvest has raised USD 2.1 million (EUR 1.9 million) in seed funding to advance its mission of building a 100,000-square-meter recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility in the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah to grow 2,000 metric tons of Atlantic salmon annually.
The company announced in February 2022 Brussels, Belgium-based Besix Group and the Ajman, U.A.E-based Tech Group have signed on as investors and strategic partners, and RAS specialist Billund Aquaculture and water treatment firm Suez Water Technologies were hired to construct the commercial pilot project. Follow-on farms are planned for Saudi Arabia and Asia.
In August 2023, Jawad Jamil was appointed CEO of Ocean Harvest. Jamil said company is now conducting its Series A fundraising, targeting strategic investors, sovereign wealth funds, impact investors, and infrastructure investors.
“We need those kinds of shareholders,” Jamil told The Circuit. “They are the ones who are not just looking at pure financial returns … getting my 3x, 5x [returns] and getting out. They have the understanding, the patience that is required to understand the intricacies of building such complicated infrastructure. And there’s more at play.”
Bruno Sardenberg, who joined Ocean Harvest as production director in July 2022 after working as director of special projects at Atlantic Sapphire, said Ocean Harvest will buy salmon eggs from Norway, Iceland, and Denmark. He said Ocean Harvest salmon will be marketed as free from antibiotics or pesticides.
Ocean Harvest Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Robert Kupstas said seafood demand is high in the U.A.E., as evidenced by the Dubai-based Fish Farm signing a distribution deal with ASMAK and Pure Salmon relocating its headquarters to Abu Dhabi and announcing plans to build three 10,000-metric-ton capacity salmon farms in Saudi Arabia.
Kupstas said the company hopes to begin commercial-scale operations at its first hatchery by 2026 and to harvest its first full-grown salmon by 2028. Ocean Harvest has upped its planned phase one capacity to 3,500 metric tons of salmon, and hopes to expand to 6,000 MT of production by 2034.
Kupstas said Ocean Harvest has lined up “take-or-pay” off-take contracts, with four customers for 82 percent of its first-phase production and has forecast revenue of USD 35.6 million (EUR 33.1 million) in 2028 and USD 43 million (EUR 40 million) by 2030.
Kupstas acknowledged a lull in investor interest in land-based seafood farming ventures, but said it wasn’t a deterrent to the company’s plans. Kupstas’ other project, Pure Harvest, which has raised USD 387.1 million (EUR 360 million) in venture capital, will not go public, as he said his vision for both companies is long-term.
“We’re fortunate in that both companies have runway,” he said. “I think we just need to keep our heads down and just deliver on fundamentals.”
Photo courtesy of Pure Harvest
