Finless Foods, San Francisco, raised a $3.5 million funding round led by Draper Associates, Silicon Valley, Calif. The one-year-old company was founded by biochemists Michael Selden and Bryan Wyrwas to find sustainable ways of producing seafood.
After Finless Foods left the IndieBio accelerator — which provided early funding, lab space and mentorship — it secured investment from Hatch, a Canada-based aquaculture accelerator. Finless also received investment from Hi-Food, an Italy-based company led by food scientists.
By moving the production of fish out of the oceans, Finless Foods aims to provide healthy and fresh seafood anywhere, ending dependence on fish farms and large-scale fishing.
“The Finless team is working on something that could be truly transformative to the food industry, potentially improving the world’s overfishing problem along the way. We’re thrilled to be involved and are excited to be along for the ride,” says Billy Draper, general partner at Draper Associates.
“This seed round will bring us to the end of our initial R&D phase, meaning we’ll have all of the tools necessary to move into production pending the closing of the Series A. The opportunity this money gives us to perfect our science and create delicious, safe and healthy food is genuinely exciting to our entire team,” says Mike Selden, co-founder and CEO of Finless Foods.