Icelandic plant-based cod start-up raises $650,000
A start-up company founded in Iceland earlier this year has raised US $650,000 in pre-seed funding to develop a line of realistic and nutritional alternative seafood products.
Iceland is a major fishing nation and is fast becoming a significant producer of farmed salmon, but Loki Foods sees the country’s seafood future as plant based.
The first product that the start-up has developed is a plant-based cod fillet which the company says both looks like and cooks like the real thing but is said to be nutritionally and environmentally superior.
Loki expects the product to be available in shops in Iceland in later this year.
‘Maturing the market’
The company has been formed by American-Icelandic marketing professional Chris McClure, who has a doctorate in public health, and Bjorn Adalbjornsson, an assistant professor at the University of Iceland who gained a doctorate in biological sciences at Manchester University.
McClure, the company’s chief executive and a long-time vegan, told Green Queen website that Loki Foods’ mission “is to mature the alt-seafood market in taste, cookability, feel and nutrition so that we can attract consumers away from conventional seafood and accelerate the removal of marine life from the supply chain”.
Although Icelanders consume 92 kg of seafood per person per year, more than any other country, it is also home to the world’s largest fully vegan supermarket, Vegan Budin.
Loki’s confirmed investors for the funding round include Sustainable Food Ventures, MGMT Ventures, VegInvest, FoodHack, Kale United and Lifely VC. The funds will be used to make operational improvements.
