Development bank and Indico invest €11.5 million in Oceano Fresco

Portugal’s development bank, Banco Português de Fomento (BPF) and venture capital company Indico Capital Partners have announced a joint investment operation of €11.5 million in Oceano Fresco, a start-up dedicated to the sustainable, scalable and traceable aquaculture of bivalves in open sea nurseries.

Of the total investment amount from the two entities, €8.05 million comes directly from the Deal by Deal co-investment programme from the Capitalisation and Resilience Fund (FdCR) while €3.45 million comes from the Indico Blue Fund, a venture capital fund managed by Indico Capital Partners.

“We are excited to be part of Oceano Fresco’s vision to create a new sustainable aquaculture vertical that will contribute to increasing global demand for protein. The demand for clams, specifically, far exceeds the current supply and growing them sustainably and systematically makes sense at all levels,” commented Stephan de Moraes, Managing General Partner at Indico.

The total investment in this round in Oceano Fresco was €17 million and had the participation of other investors, including BlueCrow, Aqua Spark and Semapa Next.

Bernardo Carvalho, CEO of Oceano Fresco, explained that to “have knowledgeable partners who share our values and vision is at least as important as raising money. With this in mind, we welcome Indico Capital Partners and Banco Português de Fomento on this adventure, as we welcome the renewed support of AquaSpark and BlueCrow on our path to becoming world leaders in regenerative bivalve aquaculture.”