blue horizon, a global impact investment firm, has made an investment in the alternative seafood company Finless Foods. This investment will help realize blue horizon’s mission to promote alternatives to inhumane and environmentally destructive food sources such as fishing.
Fish is thought to be a healthy alternative to land-based animal protein sources. But the unfortunate fact is that fish may be harder to come by in the near future. In many ways, we have already reached “peak fish”: while 53 percent of Earth’s fish stocks are fully exploited, consumption continues to increase. This, combined with continuing pollution of the ocean, has made fish an expensive and unhealthy option.
There are solutions, however. Aquaculture – growing fish in tanks on land for human consumption – is one, but it is an inefficient, energy-intensive process, and still involves the exploitation of animals. Finless Foods has come up with another solution: cell cultures.
Combining well-established and cutting-edge cell culture techniques, the team at Finless Foods takes a sample of cells from a living fish to be “brewed” into the same shape as a fish filet. This cuts out the process of feeding, growing, and eventually killing the fish itself. Once grown, the cells can be shaped to have the look and texture of fish meat – because, on a cellular level, it is fish meat.
Finless Foods is led by co-founders Mike Selden and Brian Wyrwas. With a background in biochemistry and molecular biology, Mike Selden has worked in the fields of evolutionary biomechanics, epigenetics and cancer screening research. He has also helped coordinate scientific research at New Harvest, a non-profit promoting innovations that address food insecurity and the issues with livestock production.
Brian Wyrwas also has a background in biochemistry and molecular biology, and worked as a primary culture specialist at an endocrine oncology lab. This work helped refine his skills to take on his next project: developing fish meat from stem cells.
Mike Selden says: “We are genuinely excited to begin work with blue horizon. Their mission of sustainability and large-scale environmental protection is perfectly aligned with ours, and believe that together we can really make a difference in ocean conservation.”
Roger Lienhard, founder and CEO of blue horizon, adds: “Our oceans are in dire straits, and we need to envision a future without fishing. Finless Foods is one such future, and we look forward to supporting the fulfillment of their vision.”
About blue horizon
blue horizon was founded in 2015 with the vision that profit-oriented strategies and the common good can be united. blue horizon is a global, mission-driven private sector investment firm focused on scalable ventures that accelerates the global transition towards sustainable food and agriculture. In 2016, the blue horizon Foundation was started to support the transformation of farms from animal factories to sustainable plant production facilities.
About Finless Foods
Finless Foods provides a cruelty-free source of healthy fish protein. The company has developed an effective technique to grow cells taken from living marine animals into food items such as fish filets for consumption. This technique is an efficient and humane solution to the problem of fish scarcity and ocean pollution. Finless Foods plans to make healthy fish protein available and affordable for everyone.