Hatch Blue leads investment in seaweed supply company
Ireland-headquartered aquaculture investor Hatch Blue has led an oversubscribed US $2.5 million seed funding round to scale smallholder seaweed farming in Southeast Asia.
The money has been raised by Coast 4C, which is building a scalable, regenerative seaweed platform to improve what it says are fragmented, informal supply chains that have long constrained global seaweed sourcing.
Coast 4C provides farmers with technical support, inputs, and market access to produce high-quality red seaweed for processors worldwide. The result will be improved livelihoods for farmers, measurable marine conservation outcomes through regenerative farming practices and community-managed protected areas, and traceable supply for carrageenan, a seaweed-derived ingredient used by the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries.
Reaching breakeven
The round was led by Hatch Blue's Blue Revolution Fund (BRF), a €92 million fund investing in sustainable aquaculture.
“The successful completion of the funding round marks a pivotal moment for Coast 4C,” said Coast 4C founder and chief executive Nick Hill in a press release.
“We will use the proceeds from the seed round to reach breakeven ahead of a Series A round, driving scale initially within Southeast Asia before expanding into other regions. We also plan to expand our farmer network across coastal communities and complete the rollout of our digital farm management and traceability platform.”
Sol Park, principal at BRF, said: “Smallholder farmers have long been treated as grant recipients rather than equity-backed producers. Having supported Coast 4C through our accelerator and pre-seed fund, Hatch Blue has seen first-hand what this company is capable of. BRF’s investment is our way of proving that impact-oriented companies can sustain institutional capital, and that the sector is ready for it.”
The Blue Carbon Action Partnership - an initiative hosted by the World Economic Forum and supported by the UK Government’s COAST programme - collaborated with the Asia Pacific (APAC) Community of 1,000 Ocean Startups to support Coast4C with a grant to finalise the closing legal costs for the round.
The seed round was announced at the Earthshot Prize Impact Assembly during this week’s London Climate Week - co-hosted by the Earthshot Prize and Bloomberg Philanthropies - where Coast 4C is participating. Coast 4C was a 2024 finalist of the Earthshot Prize, launched by the United Kingdom’s Prince William in 2020 to accelerate innovative solutions to the world's greatest environmental challenges.
