One of the world’s first accelerator programs devoted to aquaculture with offices in Hawaii, Norway, and Singapore, announced that it has raised $8.4 million for a fund solely dedicated to develop and scale disruptive aquaculture startups.
HATCH announced that it will dedicate the $8 million fund to further invest in its own portfolio, as well as recruit a fourth cohort for their accelerator program, which started accepting applications today.
The fund was first opened for investment 11 months ago and solely focused on investing in technology that benefits the sustainability of the aquaculture sector. It managed to attract significant expertise to its board in the form of Rubicon Resources founder and former CEO Brian Wynn, former EWOS CEO Einar Wathne, as well as Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Eric Archambeau and Kai Sato.
“We’re a first-time fund manager,” said Managing Partner Dr. Carsten Krome at the recent demo day in Singapore. “This means that people ask you if you even know how to raise a fund, how to identify good companies, how to transact in those companies. We knew we know that, but to bring this across and to get people’s trust is another issue.”
The closing of the fund coincides with another expansion of the HATCH team, growing from eight full-time staff members to ten. The company is currently filling two senior positions in Bergen and another one in Ireland, where their Europe team is deepening their cooperation with the Irish Seafood Board, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), who was a key supporter of their second cohort 2018 in Cork, Ireland.
HATCH continues to maintain its locations in Hawaii, Bergen and Singapore and will shortly announce its new offer for their Global Cohort 2020. For more information, visit www.hatch.blue.