With increasing demand for sushi and kabayki, Forsea Foods is working to replicate eel meat using cell-cultured organoid technology.
The Rehovot, Israel-based start-up recently raised USD 5.2 million (EUR 5.2 million) in a seed funding round led by Berlin, Germany-based Target Global.
“We are eager to take part in Forsea’s quest to create sustainable, better-for-you seafood products that do not disrupt the biodiversity of the oceans,” Target Global Founder and Executive Chairman Shmuel Chafets said.“Forsea is poised to make a dramatic impact on the seafood ecosystem. Its pillar platform solves a bottleneck in the cultivated meat industry by creating affordable, ethical, cultivated seafood products that can replace vulnerable fish species.”
Forsea said its technology will bypass the scaffolding stage – meaning its products will require fewer bioreactors – a simpler and less costly process than traditional cell-culturing.
“We can produce a product identical in flavor, texture, appearance, and nutritional values to real eel,” Forsea Co-Founder and CEO Roee Nir said. “Organoid platform allows us to design the fish fillet exactly as it grows in the fish, that is, in a three-dimensional structure, without growing the fat and muscle tissues separately.”
Foresea Foods was founded in 2021 with the goal of creating cell-cultured seafood, omitting any real meat in its products. It uses a non-GMO organoid platform. The cultivated eel meat is grown "ex vivo" using a 3D tissue structure, replicating the way real fish grow.
Companies that also invested in the round are the Kitchen FoodTech Hub, PeakBridge VC, Zora Ventures, FoodHack, and Milk and Honey Ventures.
“We are very excited to announce the completion of this funding round,” Nir said. “Our investors express their trust in our game-changing technology for producing seafood with a minimal footprint on the environment. The patented organoid technology allows us to contribute to a safe and more resilient food system consumers demand."
Photo courtesy of Foresea Foods
