Euro shrimp farmer secures €35m development loan
German aquaculture technology company Oceanloop has secured a €35m (£29m) loan from the European Investment Bank to support the expansion of its sustainable land-based shrimp farming business.
The money will be used primarily to help grow Oceanloop’s business in Germany and set up a plant on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria.
The EIB’s venture-debt investment will also enable the Munich-based company to accelerate the development of the technology for its sustainable recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) for indoor farming.
The EIB loan will support the company’s expansion by funding two key phases: Oceanloop will invest the EIB loan in expanding its existing RDI farm in Kiel, northern Germany from five tonnes per year to 60 tonnes per year; and it will construct the first-of-a-kind large-scale in-land farm for whiteleg shrimp in Gran Canaria, with an annual capacity of 2,000 tonnes per year.
The company was founded in Munich in 2012. Oceanloop is a German food-tech business that operates two pilot stage innovative land-based shrimp farms in Kiel and Munich, supplying premium-quality shrimp through its sister company Honest Catch to directly to restaurants, supermarkets and consumers.
It offers a high-quality, sustainable, traceable and animal welfare compliant alternative to imports from outside the EU.
Oceanloop says its technology means farmers can control every parameter to improve efficiency and the use of natural resources.
In addition, Oceanloop is working with digital technologies such as computer vision and AI to detect biomass and stress levels in real time to ensure a better animal welfare.
The whiteleg shrimp is the most farmed seafood species in the world, with more than five million tonnes produced annually. The EU is currently mostly dependent on imports of shrimp from various countries in the world.
Oceanloop believes its self-developed land-based farming technology sets a new standard in quality, sustainability and productivity, contributing to the growing demand for climate-friendly protein sources. Its software-controlled artificial ecosystems are modular, scalable, and location-independent.
The company’s “circular economy” efforts also aim to reduce waste through vapor-thermal carbonization to produce a bio-coal based fertiliser and soil enhancer, and anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. The company also plans to produce renewable energy for its own facilities, with a wind turbine and solar panels.
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