Privately-owned US food giant Rich Products and the owner of global fresh-produce supplier Fyffes are among the investors to have taken part in the Series A financing of BlueNalu, a US-based firm focused on cell-based seafood.

BlueNalu said it had raised US$20m from the investment round, which also attracted South Korean tofu maker Pulmuone Co., Netherlands-based animal nutrition business Nutreco and US ingredients major Griffith Foods. Nutreco and BlueNalu announced their “strategic partnership” last month.

The Series A round also attracted fresh backing from investors that had taken part in BlueNalu’s seed financing, including food-tech fund New Crop Capital and CPT Capital, the investment arm of the family office of UK businessman Jeremy Coller.

BlueNalu is looking to use the new finance to develop a pilot production facility in San Diego and prepare for its launch onto the market.

Lou Cooperhouse, the president and CEO of BlueNalu, said: We have designed and executed a platform technology in which we will ultimately offer a broad array of sustainable cell-based seafood products to consumers, and our team has been extremely focused on implementing systems and processes that will be needed for cost-effective, large-scale production.”

just-food analysis from October 2019: How can cell-based food reach scale?