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Sea6 Energy, a seaweed farming and processing firm with operations in Tuticorin and Bali has raised $9 million (approx ₹67 crore) in Series B funding led by Aqua-Spark, the Netherlands based investment fund on sustainable agriculture. Singapore-based Silverstrand Capital is the co-investor in the Series B round.
The Bengaluru-headquartered Sea6 Energy develops proprietary technologies for converting fresh tropical seaweeds into novel eco-friendly products for segments such as agriculture, animal health, food ingredients, bio-plastics and renewable chemicals. The company had raised ₹35 crore in the Series A funding from Tata Capital Innovation Fund in 2015.
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Sea6 has already commercialised the seaweed based bio-stimulants for agriculture in India and overseas markets including the United States, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The company expects to commercialise the animal health products for shrimps and poultry segment soon.
“We plan to utilise the latest funding to augment our research and development, processing facility and strengthen marketing of our agricultural bio-stimulants and animal health products,” said Shrikumar Suryanaryan, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Sea6Energy.
Seacombine
The company has developed the proprietary seacombine, a fully mechanised cultivation system that can simultaneously harvest and replant seaweed in deep ocean waters, enabling cost competitive production at scale. The seacombine has been deployed in Indonesia, where the tropical seaweeds are widely grown. “The new funds will contribute towards the financing of additional seasombine systems to increase supply of seaweed raw material,” Suryanarayan said.
Sea6 expects to bring the seacombine to India with the pick-up in cultivation of tropical red seaweeds, which is still in early stages.
Born in IIT-Madras
Sea6 was founded in 2010 at IIT Madras by Shrikumar Suryanarayan, former R&D Head of Biocon, who was an adjunct faculty and three biotechnology graduates from the institute – Sailaja Nori, Nelson Vadassery and Sowmya Balendiran. The company has about 60 employees of which about 25 are in the R&D.
“Sea6’s first-of-its-kind innovation is well-positioned to impact how we farm seaweed and its utilisation across industries. Their SeaCombine makes sustainably farming the ocean a possibility, while capturing CO2 and transforming it into valuable products. The company’s approach impressed us from the start, and we are eager to integrate them into our portfolio and begin to work together,” said Mike Velings and Amy Novogratz, co-founders of Aqua-Spark.
Mahindra Agri Business and Stanes are helping Sea6 to market its products for agriculture segment in the country.
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