Delivery Hero-backed DX Ventures has become a shareholder in Bluu Biosciences, the first company in Europe to specialize in the development and production of cell-based fish using advanced biotechnology. The production of cell-based fish, unlike commercial fishing, does not harm cthe ecosystem and can be done at competitive prices, making a critical contribution to global animal protein supply security in the future.
The biotech company was founded in 2020 by Dr. Sebastian Rakers and Simon Fabich with an expert team of marine biologists, cell biologists, cell and tissue engineers, and food technologists. In R&D, Bluu Biosciences closely cooperates with the Fraunhofer Development Center for Marine and Cellular Biotechnology (EMB) in Luebeck and has a state-of-the-art R&D environment.
As we reported in March this year, Bluu closed a seed funding round at 7 million euros, less than ten months after its foundation. Its success is timely, as according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, about 90 percent of all edible fish stocks are already considered maximally exploited or overfished, while demand continues to rise as the world’s population grows (source: FAO, 2020).
Dr Sebastian Rakers, founder and managing director of Bluu Biosciences together with Simon Fabich explained: “With this investment from DX Ventures we have gained a long-term partner who, like us, is committed to greater sustainability in the food sector. With DX Ventures’ strong backing from Delivery Hero SE, a DAX company in Germany, we believe there are many long-term benefits to realize from our partnership. The collaboration is also an incredibly interesting opportunity for future distribution – with the potential to access thousands of great restaurants and kitchens internationally, which we see as an attractive way of accelerating our commercialization roadmap.”
Brendon Blacker, Partner at DX Ventures commented: “Sustainability is at the heart of DX Ventures’ values and we are excited to support Bluu Biosciences to create a more sustainable seafood industry. We decided to partner with Bluu Biosciences after being impressed with the deep expertise of their world-class team and their clear focus on tackling the many challenges associated with the current fishing industry. We also see tremendous potential to leverage our food industry expertise to assist Bluu Biosciences with marketing its cell-based fish products to restaurants and commercial kitchens worldwide.”
