Mermade Seafoods (from YouTube)
Mermade Seafoods, an Israel foodtech startup working in the field of developing alternatives to animal based foods, has raised $3.3 million in a seed round of funding from investors OurCrowd, US VC fund Fall Line Capital and Dutch investor Sake Bosch. The company is developing what it says is the world’s first-ever cultivated scallops.
Scallops are a popular type of sea food that offer protein and other nutrients. But not only are they not kosher, but the widespread harvesting of seafoods is causing ecological problems as well as contributing to the worldwide problems of climate change. This is why Israeli firms like Mermade Seafoods are in the alternative food business.
Fake food, or artificially produced alternatives to animal products that are as good as the real thing, is nothing new for Startup Nation. Israel has several firms offering artificial meat through the wonders of 3D printing. Redefine Meat is one such startup. And just last December, Future Meat, an Israeli cultured meat startup, hit a $900 million valuation. Then there are firms like Yo! Egg, an Israeli foodtech startup that offers a plant-based egg alternative.
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Founded in July 2021 by CEO Daniel Einhorn, CTO Dr. Rotem Kadir and COO Dr. Tomer Halevy Mermade Seafoods calls itself a pioneering cellular aquaculture company and says that it is bringing a “novel approach and mindset” for the production of cell based seafood. The company boasts that its approach enables mass production of cultured seafood using a sustainable and recyclable fermentation-based process that results in clean, healthy, and sustainable protein-rich seafood products, bringing food security for future generations.
Cells are cultivated in a nutritious environment where they develop their flavors and nutritional qualities, turning into scallops.
Mermade Seafoods CEO Daniel Einhorn “We decided to focus on scallop as our first product, since it’s a popular dish all over the world, but one that suffers from high prices and shortages due to serious supply chain problems. It’s easier to produce in comparison with other more complex meat products, and we can bring it to market relatively quickly. The global scallop market is worth $8 billion a year, over $600 million of which is in the U.S. alone. Our production method will make it possible to reduce the cost of each scallop dish and to expand the market’s volume by orders of magnitude because supply will finally adjust itself to the high demand.”
