BlueNalu is a cell based fish company located in San Diego, California where the company leads up R&D and will eventually manufacture and cell based seafood products. BlueNalu is developing a technology platform that will enable the company to cultivate a range of fresh-water and salt-water species of fish through a process the company calls “cellular aquaculture.” This process includes the synthesis of muscle cells, connective tissue, and fat cells to cultivate fish products that taste identical to their wild caught counterpart.

BlueNalu has a 38,000 sq foot pilot facility based in San Diego at which the company has a various bioreactors ranging from 10 to 2,000 liters in size. In addition to scaling up the cell culture from bench scale (10 liters) to pilot scale (2,000) liters, BlueNalu is incorporating additional technologies such as 3D bioprinting and extrusion to formulate their products.

Beyond the pilot scale, BlueNalu has a goal to build 150,000 sq/ft manufacturing facilities in cities around the world to manufacture cell based seafood to meet the demands of 10 million nearby residents. Each 150,000 sq/ft facility shall produce between 9-18 million pounds of finished seafood products per year, or 36-72 million seafood fillets per year. BlueNalu’s plans to break ground on its first production facility in 2025. In the immediate future, the company is optimizing the process on smaller scales with the target of a market launch in 2023.

BlueNalu has a viable commercialization strategy, but will need a significant amount of financing in order to execute on its goal of localized manufacturing facilities. Based on the most recent capital raise, BlueNalu is currently valued at $24.9 million. In addition to production of localized manufacturing facilities, BlueNalu must maintain a working cell bank, steady supply of cell culture media, and a scalable tissue engineering strategy to meet their projections of 9-18 million pounds of finished seafood products per year.