West Cork seaweed firm secures €1.5m in fresh funding

Pure Ocean Algae is the first commercial end-to-end production platform to produce the red seaweed Palmaria palmata, commonly known as Dulse

Michael O’Neill, CEO and founder of seaweed biotech firm Pure Ocean Algae, which has successfully completed a seed funding round which will see it invest more than €3m over the next two years in building out and growing its business platform as well as creating new jobs in West Cork.

West Cork seaweed company plans to double staff numbers after securing €1.5m in fresh funding to expand its operations.

Pure Ocean Algae, a macro-algae-based biotechnology company is based on the Beara peninsula. It has successfully completed a seed funding round which will see it invest more than €3m over the next two years in building out and growing its business platform as well as creating new jobs in West Cork.

The round of funding was led by The Yield Lab, Europe’s early-stage Ag-Tech investor which is itself supported by Enterprise Ireland and AIB. Also joining this funding are the West Cork-based Carbery Group, US-based SeaAhead's Blue Angel Group and Enterprise Ireland.

Founded by Michael O'Neill in 2019, the company is the first commercial end-to-end production platform to produce the red seaweed Palmaria palmata, commonly known as Dulse. 

Dulse is a highly prized red seaweed used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food/vegetable protein sectors. Macro-algae species are particularly high in protein and are environmentally sustainable, commanding retail prices of more than €120 per Kg dried and grow very well under Irish conditions. 

Pure Ocean Algae operates its own land-based hatchery, nursery and processing facility while also developing 80 hectares of licensed sea sites for the growing of various seaweed species. 

The investment will be used to expand the existing land-based facilities to cater for 250 hectares of sea site production and ancillary services. Working with existing seaweed farmers the company hopes to expand to a production area of 500 hectares over the next three years.

"This funding will allow us to expand our land-based production sites, our sea-based capabilities, and will allow us to expand our R&D and implementation teams," O'Neill said.

"We are also investigating various opportunities to develop the services element of the business through international partnerships and collaborations to bring our technology to a global audience.

"Our ambition is to grow a business that supports our strong environmental ethos while creating value chains which support our bottom line and satisfy the expectations of our investors.”

David Bowles, Managing Partner at The Yield lab Europe said they have seen a lot of companies attempting to deliver seaweed-related solutions. "We were very impressed with the quality and sophistication of what the team in Beara have delivered. We had no hesitation in investing in such a world-leading product."