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Aquaculture Magazine reports:
Big Akwa, a Swedish food-tech company developing a land-based aquaculture project with an annual capacity of 6,000 tons at Alby industrial park in mid Sweden, is pleased to announce the successful completion of a SEK 6 million funding round, which concluded on June 8th. The investment is a combination of equity, debt, and grants, led by both new and current investors. The capital infusion will be used to continue Big Akwa’s pre-construction phase for its industrial-scale facility, aligning with the company’s financial planning.
“We are excited to welcome new investors and deeply grateful to our existing shareholders for their support and trust during this exciting growth phase for Big Akwa,” said Elena Petukhovskaya, co-founder and CEO of the company.
“The funding is fully in line with our financial plan and reflects the investor growing interest in sustainability and self-sufficiency of food supply within Sweden and EU ,” adds co-founder and VP Hugo Wikström.
Large-scale land-based rainbow trout farm
In the meantime, Big Akwa announced that they are making a significant stride forward in its plans to build a large-scale land-based rainbow trout farm near Ljungan in Alby. Today the company submitted its application for environmental permit, marking an important milestone in the project.
The planned fish farm is designed to produce 6,000 tons of rainbow trout per year, equivalent to 2-3% of the annual fish consumption in Sweden. This facility will be one of the largest in the country and will utilize state-of-the-art technology, particularly in water purification. Additionally, the fish farm is planned to be situated near the proposed hydrogen plant in the area, enabling future collaboration based on industrial symbiosis.
“This is a significant milestone for us, and we are pleased to have progressed this far in the project. All the conditions for building a sustainable and competitive operation are in place in Alby. We also see a high demand for fish, both now and in the future, and there is considerable public interest in increasing domestic food production. Therefore, we are confident that this is a worthwhile investment,” says Elena Petukhovskaya, CEO of Big Akwa.
The next step is the processing of the application by the Environmental Permitting Delegation within the County Administrative Board of Västernorrland. The company’s hope is that a permit will be granted later this year.
Co-located fish farming system and the forest industry working together
Big Akwa is a food-tech innovation start-up that economically and environmentally revolutionizes land-based aquaculture by introducing industrial symbiosis between the aquaculture and process industry.
Co-located fish farming system and the forest industry working together synergistically and sustainably. The pulp industry generates low temperature heat that is typically wasted in production. This heat can be used to warm up fish farm water to optimal temperatures ensuring faster fish growth and lower energy usage. Fish farms produce “dirty water” that tends to get released into surrounding waters causing serious environmental problems.
However, this dirty water happens to be a favorite food source for the bacteria pulp producers use in the water purification steps. By recycling dirty fish water and feeding it back into pulp production, considerable energy savings may be realized while improving the environmental footprint of both fish and pulp production.
To realize the enormous potential of combining aquaculture and pulp production, Big Akwa develops an efficient approach to the fish farming, based on industrial symbioses between two industries.
Founded in 2020
Big Akwa is a Swedish company founded in 2020, specializing in the development of innovative concepts for resource-efficient food production. The company aims to establish large-scale land-based fish farming, operating in collaboration with nearby process industries through industrial symbiosis.
That approach allows the use of industrial by-products while contributing to the sustainable and competitive production of fish. The company boasts several individuals with extensive experience in the industry.
