Next round of funding secured for France's first land-based shrimp farm

 

The first land-based shrimp farm in France is due to be built, as Lisaqua secures EU€4.9 million in total, with €2.6 million coming from new investors including Le Gouessant Agricultural Cooperative, Litto Invest and private investors; while €2.3 million was invested from Bpifrance, and the Credit Maritime and CIC Quest banks.

"We are delighted to welcome new investors in this round of financing, which will accelerate Lisaqua's development and validate its model for setting up land-based shrimp farms close to major cities," says Hervé Bachelot Lallier, Associate Investment Director at Go Capital, manager of Litto Invest. "This funding fuels Lisaqua's ambition to quickly become the leading player in the production of fresh, local and sustainable shrimp, with its own replicable production system."

Lisaqua is a relatively new company, having been founded in 2018, that has developed 'permaquaculture': a patented co-culture technology which combines shrimp, micro-organisms and marine invertebrates in recirculating aquaculture farms. In doing so, shrimp can be farmed without the use of antibiotics, it preserves mangroves and saves a total of 99 percent of water compared with traditional methods of shrimp farming.

Having secured this new round of funding, Lisaqua is able to finalise construction of what marks the first shrimp farm in France, following on from three years of R&D. The facility will be 2000 sqm, based near Nantes and aims to produce 10 tonnes of shrimp per annum starting from spring 2022. France currently imports 80,000 tonnes of frozen shrimp. With Lisaqua's aim to produce 10,000 tonnes of shrimp by 2030, consumers will be enjoying more locally-sourced food, reducing the emissions produced from transporting seafood.

The company has been involved in marketing the first of fresh, local and environmentally friendly shrimp in France with their 'triple zero' guarantee: zero antibiotics, zero kilometres travelled and zero polluting discharge.

"This funding will allow us to recruit 10 people and to structure strategic partnerships to prepare our scale-up. We plan to set up a network of farms near the main French cities from 2024 in order to make our ultra-fresh shrimp available to as many people as possible," concludes Gabriel Boneu, Lisaqua CEO and co-founder.