OurCrowd Backs Oversubscribed Seed Round of Foodtech Mermade Seafoods

Mermade Seafoods , an Israel based Foodtech startup, has raised $3.3 million in an oversubscribed Seed funding round. Investment marketplace OurCrowd participated in the funding along with Fall Line, Sake Bosch and others. Mermade was founded in July 2021 by CEO Daniel Einhorn, CTO Dr. Rotem Kadir andCOO  Dr. Tomer Halevy.

Mermade Seafoods is developing a new “circular cellular agriculture technology” for the production of cultivated scallops. The company utilizes “one-of-a-kind technology” to make it possible to streamline the global scallop market and provide a high-quality, sustainable, product at prices far lower than what is currently available.

Mermade claims to be the first company in the world to produce scallops using cellular agriculture. The company expects to reach “laboratory-scale production by 2023.”

Scallops is just the first product the company will develop but, over time, aims to offer a portfolio of seafood.

Einhorn commented on the funding round:

“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.”

Einhorn, added that by using Cytoponics they will be able to produce a variety of other cultivated seafood products like calamari, shrimp, crab meat and more.

Jon Medved, founder and CEO of OurCrowd said that Mermade is a pioneer in cellular aquaculture:

“The other investors and I were impressed by the innovative idea and the potential of transforming a vast market that is worth billions. Over the past few months, the team has demonstrated remarkable progress in R&D and we see a brilliant future for Mermade.”