A USD 15 million (EUR 14.1 million) investment has been generated by Boston-based InnovaSea Systems Inc. to build an all-in-one, open ocean fish farming system – a vital component to sustainable seafood’s future, the company told Boston Business Journal.
The investor is Cuna Del Mar, which focuses on open ocean aquaculture projects and is run by the Walton family, which founded Walmart.
The end result of a merger between Maine's Ocean Farm Technologies Inc. and a Seattle, Washington-based company, InnovaSea specializes in the development of large underwater pens. Cuna Del Mar has purchased a stake in both of InnovaSea’s founding companies; the investment firm’s portfolio also includes companies operating farms in Panama and Mexico, and InnovaSea plans to partner with these other entities to test its latest product, due to come to market by 2018.
"The financing was part of a planned strategy to support the continued investment in making the farm platform," David Kelly, the CEO and chief technology officer of InnovaSea, told the journal regarding the latest investment.
InnovaSea has expanded rapidly since its formation in 2015, and recently, the company began expanding its headquarters in Boston. Of the 40 people on InnovaSea’s payroll, 18 of them now work out of the company’s new Fort Point, Massachusetts office – established in August 2016 – focusing on research and development.
"The reason to put it in Boston is there is a nexus of marine, ocean engineering expertise and technology in the area,” Kelly said in the article. "When you start looking at... the combination of marine ocean experience with big data – in that sort of play Boston became the clear choice."
