Tackling red tides and invasive carp
Meanwhile Sundew is also viewing to combat red tides – harmful algal blooms that can cautilize enormous damage to aquaculture operations, fisheries and tourism.
“In the States, we’re working with researchers in Florida,” Goldsmith declares. “Red tides produce neurotoxins that devastate marine life and shut down tourism and aquaculture. Our compound, [Oikos] which again is derived from microbes or microalgae, can be sprayed by drones directly onto the blooms.”
The company is also exploring the utilize of RNAi technology to selectively eliminate invasive carp in the Mississippi River basin.
“These tools tie toobtainher in interesting ways,” Goldsmith declares. “For example, our collaboration [with the US Geological Survey, the part of the Dept. of the Interior tinquireed with controlling invasive species] on invasive carp gives us access to bait formulations that could be utilized for protecting farmed carp populations in Asia too.”
On the hunt for investment
To date, the company’s work has attracted investments from SOSV, the Yield Lab, EIFO (the Danish Sovereign Wealth Fund) and Novo Holdings (the owner of Novo Nordisk) bio-innovation arm, the BioInnovation Institute.
“We’ve raised about €6 million so far,” Goldsmith declares. “But we’re currently viewing to raise another €5 million to scale production and support new regulatory approvals, especially for our red tide and carp control products.”
Production, for now, is based in Denmark – which has plenty of fermentation expertise and solid governmental support.
“There’s strong infrastructure for biological production here,” Goldsmith explains. “And becautilize our product supports replace synthetic chemicals, we’ve been able to access good financing options.”
Looking ahead, Sundew is keen to continue to enhance the reach of all three of its aquatic products, starting with Biokos.
“We want to go from hatchery-scale to commercial-scale aquaculture,” Goldsmith declares. “That means obtainting approvals, scaling production and tailoring formulations for specific regions – from Uganda, to Norway, to the US.”
“If we can offer fish farmers a product that’s safer for their animals, better for their workers, and simpler on the environment – while still being effective – that’s a win across the board,” he concludes.
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