Description

Oceano Fresco is a shellfish aquaculture company that aims to feed the world in a sustainable way.

This is the fourth Oceano Fresco Growth campaign after successfully raising 750.000€ in the first, second, and third campaigns for cultivation, operations, and sales.

Now, the funds raised through this fourth campaign will be used for Marketing & R&D:

• Preparation of Oceano Fresco's market entry in Portugal and Spain;
• Creation and execution of Oceano Fresco's branding project, including packaging, new product development, claims, certifications, point of sale materials, and website;
• Product studies, nutritional information, shelf life, food preservation technologies;
• Studies and mapping of the sustainability plan for the company.

The Growth series is meant to finance projects that enhance the growth of the company's production in order to enter the market with a larger sales scale.

The company has raised 1.80 million euros through GoParity's investor community since its first campaign in January 2020.

The amount raised in Oceano Fresco I, II, III, IV, V, and VI campaigns (730,000€) was used to co-finance the installation of the world's first open sea clam farm in Alvor. The clams are suspended in the open sea where they can grow in their natural environment and in a sustainable way.

The amount raised in Oceano Fresco Innovation I, II, and III campaigns (500,000€) was used to co-finance two research and development (R&D) projects focused on the cultivation of clams and one project in the area of food innovation. The R&D projects in the areas of genetics and pathology are highly innovative worldwide, leading to two incentives totaling 1.4 million. The food innovation project aims to develop new products and packaging to create value and promote sustainable clam consumption.

In August 2020, the company started clam seed production at a Biomarine Center in Nazaré, a pioneering project in Europe, which included the bivalve hatchery, a laboratory with R&D and offices. In June of the same year, it completed the installation of the open sea farm in Alvor, with an area of 100 hectares and the capacity to produce 600 tons of clams per year, thus achieving total control of the production cycle of this bivalve. The year 2021 marked the start of the first production with the hatchery managing to produce more than 50 million clam seeds and these same clams growing to adulthood well and fast in the open sea and with very positive reactions from customers.

Oceano Fresco continues to grow. In 2021, Oceano Fresco doubled the number of employees, creating a team of people composed of several nationalities and talents with a great passion in common: to contribute to the sustainability of the Oceans. In 2022, Oceano Fresco announced the new Board of Directors, which includes experts in various fields that contribute to the vision of innovation and growth for a sustainable Blue Economy. It also built the new boat 'Oceano Fresco l' and the Operations Center in Nazaré. In the hatchery at Biomarine Center, 38 million seeds were cultivated in the last 6 months (November-April). To accompany this growth and innovation, Oceano Fresco has a new office at University NOVA SBE in Carcavelos (Lisbon) to create value for its clients, consumers, and stakeholders.

The Impact

Direct impact

• Creation of 4 jobs, in addition to the company's current 27 employees: the financing of all Oceano Fresco Growth campaigns will enable the hiring of 4 new people.
• Promotion of innovation in the industry, in terms of processes and technology, through research and development.
• Sustainable growth: through research and mapping of a sustainability plan for the company’s growth, Oceano Fresco will deepen their commitment to a sustainable marine food production, through recyclable packaging, bivalves’ conservation strategies to reduce food waste and more.

Indirect Impact

• Promotion of the marine ecosystem: a sustainable alternative to intensive fishing as a source of protein, the sustainable production of clams contributes to the restoration of biodiversity and marine stocks. The bivalves’ cultivation occurs without artificial feed and requires low energy consumption, filtrate the water and improving its quality and absorbing CO2 to build their shells.

"Can the ocean feed us sustainably?", written by Rodrigo Clímaco, responsible for Oceano Fresco's nursery.

Impact Indicators

1

jobs created

Contribution to the Sustainable
Development Goals

Sustainable Development Goals

Financial viability

Oceano Fresco began its pilot sales at the end of 2021 and hopes to reach 9M€ in sales in less than 3 years. The main market will be European, with sales also planned for Japan and South Korea. The repayment of this loan is expected to come from sales proceeds. In addition, the project has recently secured over 6M € of investment from new shareholders, which will allow the company to invest in its long-term growth.

Download Key Investment Information Sheet

The Promoter

About Oceano Fresco S.A.

Oceano Fresco was founded in 2015 by Bernardo Ferreira de Carvalho.

The company is focused on sustainable aquaculture of high-value bivalves (European clams), using scientific research and methods, and an innovative approach in the systematic improvement of aquaculture. Funded in 2015 by Bernardo Ferreira de Carvalho, the company's motto is: “we can regenerate nature if we farm and eat better”. The company is led by a Board of five Directors with scientific, financial, and business experience, including launching and scaling up of start-ups. They are supported by a growing Operational Team (43 people) covering R&D, production, and business and several Advisory Board members with world-renowned fish breeding experts.

The company has built a state-of-the-art Biomarine Center, including a hatchery, labs, and offices in central Portugal, as well as a 100-hectare sea farm off the coast of the Algarve region. With these rare and complementary assets, the company will apply advanced selection and breeding methods to native European clam species of high nutritional and market value, which are presently being replaced in the market by their low-value Asian counterparts (low organoleptic value). 

The team

Bernardo Carvalho

CEO and Managing Director

Entrepreneur and independent consultant for leading companies in agro-genetics, pharma, and banking.

Frederico Reis

CCO and Managing Director

Marketing & Sales senior executive with >15 years in FMCG, Consumer Healthcare, Electronics and food Retail across Europe.

Nuno Arantes Oliveir

Co-founder and Advisory Board Chairman

Life Science executive and entrepreneur. PhD in Genetics. MIT Portugal, NOVA-SBE. 200M Fund. Research at Univ. of California.

Olivier Cottet

Member of the Advisory Board

Plant breeding specialist. >20 years experience managing breeding programs at Syngenta.

Stan Allen

Member of the Advisory Board

Shellfish breeding specialist. Director of Aquaculture Genetics and Breeding Technology Center at Virginia Institute of Marine Science (USA)

Josien Bakker

Non-executive Director Aqua Spark

Francisco Belo

Non-executive Directo, BlueCrow Capital

Rui Rodrigues

Non-executive Director, Indico Capital Partners

Business Model

Updates