Chicago’s Aqua Cultured Foods, producer of alt seafood products through microbial fermentation, announces the appointment of three industry heavyweights to its Advisory Board: Chuck Muth, Ingeborg Gasser-Kriss, and Gonzalo Ramírez Martiarena.
“Having Ingeborg, Chuck, and Gonzalo on our team is invaluable”
The female-led food tech startup is developing calamari, shrimp, scallops, and whole cut filets of tuna and whitefish. The company’s fermentation methods are free of any animal inputs, genetic altering or modification and can be marketed as non-GMO.
Impressive achievements
Since vegconomist first reported on Aqua Cultured — just last June — the company has gone on to achieve a list of accomplishments: closing the largest ever pre-seed round in alt-seafood last October; signing an agreement with Migros, Switzerland’s largest retailer; revealing its first commercial product, alt calamari fries; and announcing advancements in its fermentation technology allowing it to double the biomass output of whole-muscle seafood alternatives.
Ingeborg Gasser-Kriss
Ingeborg Gasser-Kriss has 26 years of experience in food marketing, innovation, and growth opportunities across geographies and cultures, for both emerging and established markets. She is currently co-director of the Food Ecosystems Accelerator at Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator, and serves on the boards of SV Group and Alver World. Gasser-Kriss is a proponent of 21st century innovation models to disrupt Big Food, including internal incubation, agile entrepreneurialism and collaborative eco-systems.
Chuck Muth
Chuck Muth’s background in building winning organizational cultures has brought him to the boards of Miyoko’s Creamery, Partake, Infinite Foods, Vive Organic, and ZICO in director and advisor roles. Muth is former Chief Growth Officer for Beyond Meat and held leadership positions at Honest Tea, Coca-Cola and Seagram Beverage Co.
Gonzalo Ramírez Martiarena
Gonzalo Ramírez Martiarena has 35 years of experience shaping the future of food and agriculture from the field to the boardroom, including production, services, sales, import/export and distribution. He has held senior positions at country, regional and global levels in Latin America, Asia and Europe including three years as global CEO of the Fortune 500 Louis Dreyfus Company. He is founder/CEO of Swiss Pampa, an investment firm focused on startups and small companies revolutionizing food/ag production, and an early investor in Aqua.
Diverse strengths
“Having Ingeborg, Chuck, and Gonzalo on our team is invaluable for helping us manage incoming opportunities, protect our IP and technology, and use our resources intelligently,” comments Aqua CEO Anne Palermo. “We are fortunate to have the guidance and encouragement of people with diverse strengths but a shared vision for the future of food.”
