Members of the Hatch team and clients at a demonstration day. Photo: Hatch.

Hatch extends deadline for aquaculture start-ups

Aquaculture investor Hatch has extended the application deadline for its fourth accelerator programme.

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Start-ups wanting to join the programme were due to have applied by last Friday but have now been given a further two weeks.

In a message to those on its mailing list announcing the new deadline of June 26, Hatch said: “If we know one thing, it is that aquaculture and alternative protein innovation is hard. And time intensive. And sleep-depriving. Which, as you know, is not good at all. People who don’t sleep enough do all kinds of crazy things, like forgetting about deadlines.

“We would like to advocate for a better aquaculture innovation work-life balance. And in order to give you a shot at the former so you can create a more awesome latter for you and everyone that enjoys great seafood, we are extending our deadline for another two weeks.”

$75,000 investment

Hatch offers US $75,000 cash investment and $55,000 in-kind value to each participating company. In-kind support includes mentoring from a variety of aquaculture industry experts.

Hatch also has an $8.4 million investment fund which offers follow-on investment for top performers in its programmes.

The “2020 Global Cohort 4.0” is limited to 10 companies who will take part in a 15-week programme at three locations - Hawaii, Bergen in Norway, and Singapore – where Hatch has bases.

Sustainability through innovation

Hatch’s investment philosophy assumes that the aquaculture industry needs to increase its efficiency and make its way of operation more sustainable through innovative technology.

Within the last year, the Hatch portfolio has received more than $10m in external investment and licensing deals worth more than $40m. The investment focus areas of Hatch are nutrition, health, biotech, production methods, and technology.

Hatch was awarded the prize for international impact at last year’s Aquaculture Awards held in Edinburgh, and one of its portfolio companies, fish farm software developer Manolin, shared the prize for most promising new entrant to the industry.

Details of the Hatch offer and an application form can be found here.