BC Business
Local agtech company Cascadia Seaweed is looking to raise an additional $3 million in this funding round
Sometimes, big ideas come thundering out of small towns. Cascadia Seaweed, a seaweed cultivator based in Sidney, is one of those homegrown, feel-good success stories for B.C.
Cascadia, which partners with Indigenous communities to harvest and process seaweed from low-impact ocean farms, is making waves in the agtech industry. With a range of seaweed-based products—such as soil supplements and animal feed—the company is leveraging regenerative solutions to support farmers and address food security.
Since its launch in 2019, Cascadia has raised over $18 million to advance its technologies. Now recognized as North America’s largest seaweed cultivator and processor, the company most recently secured $4 million in Series A funding.
Investments were led by WWF Impact (the impact investing division of World Wildlife Fund US), the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia, Vere Ventures, Norfolk Green Ventures and others.
“We’ve built a vertically integrated business that delivers real environmental and economic benefits, and this funding will enable us to scale up and provide surety of supply of innovative inputs to our customers while contributing to more resilient food production in North America,” CEO Michael Williamson said in a release.
Cascadia is aiming to close the Series A round at $7 million. It will use the funds to build a seaweed processing facility on the west coast and market products like its liquid kelp extracts more heavily.
More good news came earlier this month, when Cascadia was named one of Canada’s most investible cleantech ventures by Foresight Canada. But Canadian investors are behind approximately 11 percent of the $4 million raised thus far, so Cascadia is looking to garner more local support.
“Cascadia’s model provides benefits to our oceans, our environment, coastal communities, and can help mitigate climate change,” said Paul Dobbins, VP of impact investing and ecosystems services, aquaculture at WWF-US. “When scaled, cultivated seaweed can also reduce the footprint of our global food system by providing a nutritious source of food and livestock feed with less land and resource inputs.”