Accelerator program opens for aquaculture enterprises

Eight companies are going to be selected to participate on the first-ever global accelerator program, Hatch Accelerator 1.0, from April to June.

Freeimages.com/Thomas Møller
Freeimages.com/Thomas Møller

Aqua-Spark, the first investment fund focused exclusively on sustainable aquaculture, announced its investment in Hatch Accelerator 1.0, the first-ever global accelerator program dedicated to the aquaculture industry. The investment will be used to accelerate a group of eight companies between April and June of 2018.

Launched in December 2013, Aqua-Spark has the mission to make the fish farming sector sustainable by investing across the value chain in companies, technologies and practices.

While Aqua-Spark focuses on the growth stage of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Hatch was created with the mission of investing in early stage aquaculture opportunities. It was founded in 2017 by Carsten Krome, Georg Baunach and Wayne Murphy, with support from Alimentos Ventures, which was created by Carsten Krome. 

Together, the co-founders realized an opportunity and need to help mature early stage companies and technologies that have the potential to transform the landscape.

“Aqua-Spark often encounters great ideas, products and technologies that could have benefitted from ideation phase support,” explained Mike Velings and Amy Novogratz, co-founders of Aqua-Spark. “Further, it is imperative that we develop a way to finance early stage aquaculture ventures, which Hatch is doing. Between Aqua-Spark and Hatch, there is a clear opportunity for a symbiotic partnership that will improve collective deal flow. We can direct smart, early-phase companies to Hatch, and as Hatch actively finds and grows early stage startups, Aqua-Spark can absorb those that have progressed beyond accelerator. It is a holistic win for the aquaculture industry as a whole.”

Hatch is located in Bergen, Norway, at the epicenter of the global salmon farming industry. The accelerator comprises an intensive three-month program that provides top teams with aquaculture expertise from across the world — along with industry and investor connections and the facilities required to fast track product development.

“We see Aqua-Spark’s investment in Hatch as the beginning of a long-lasting partnership built on a mutual desire to accelerate innovation and growth within the global aquaculture industry”, said Dr. Carsten Krome, co-founder of Hatch. “Aqua-Spark has an extensive network and hands-on approach that will help propel Hatch, and syncs nicely with the incubator concept. Together, we cover a major part of the financial value chain — improving resources and opportunities for startups from early stage onward.”

Since 2015, Aqua-Spark has invested in 10 complementary SMEs, including: Sogn Aqua (a Norwegian fish farm with the potential to change the way red-listed Atlantic Halibut is farmed), Calysta (a biotechnology company that is transforming fish feed–making it healthier and more environmentally sound), eFishery (a crucial technology for monitoring fish feed with the power to revolutionize commercial aquaculture), and Love The Wild (a US-based company that produces sustainable, delicious ready-to-prepare seafood kits). 

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