Cultivated seafood might be just around the corner.

‍What’s happening:‍

• California based cultivated fish startup BlueNalu has raised $33.5M in a new Series B financing
  
• The new round included participation from notable investors including Jim Mellon’s Agronomics (LSE: ANIC)
  

The big idea:‍

• BlueNalu is focused on producing cell cultivated bluefish tuna often referred to as ’toro'
  
• Toro is being heavily depleted from the oceans and also varies wildly in quality due to it being consistently overfished
  
• Through their development of new cell lines BlueNalu is aiming to produce cell cultivated toro that can be used for sushi, sashimi, nigiri and more
  

Why it matters:‍

• Much of the venture capital funding for cell cultivated startups has been focused on steak, beef and meat products
  
• Cell cultivated fish represents a unique opportunity due to the elimination of many fish species globally as a result of overfishing
  

Going deeper:‍

• BlueNalu has numerous notable partnerships to enter into Asia with companies such as Mitsubishi, Pulmuone and Thai Union
  
• They’ve also entered into a partnership with Japan's largest sushi restaurant chain Food & Life Companies
  

By the numbers:‍

• Early projections that have been publicly released by BlueNalu claim that their bluefish tuna will be produced with a 75% gross margin upon beginning to operate their purpose built facility

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