The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a EUR 35 million loan to German aquaculture technology startup Oceanloop to help grow its business in Germany and expand it to Gran Canaria, Spain. The EIB’s venture-debt investment will also enable the Munich-based company to accelerate the development of the technology for its sustainable recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) for indoor farming.

The EIB loan will support the company’s expansion by funding two key phases. Oceanloop will invest the EIB loan in expanding its existing RDI farm in Kiel from 5 tonnes per year to 60 tonnes per year, and it will construct the first-of-a-kind large-scale in-land farm for whiteleg shrimp in Gran Canaria, with an annual capacity of 2,000 tonnes per year.

Founded in Munich in 2012, Oceanloop is a German food-tech company that operates two pilot stage innovative land-based shrimp farms in Kiel and Munich, supplying premium-quality shrimp through its sister company Honest Catch to restaurants, supermarkets and consumers directly. The company offers a high-quality, sustainable, traceable and animal welfare compliant alternative to imports from outside the EU. With Oceanloop technology, farmers can control every parameter to improve efficiency and the use of natural resources. In addition, Oceanloop is working with digital technologies such as computer vision and AI to detect biomass and stress levels in real time to ensure a better animal welfare.

“The European Investment Bank supports European tech pioneers with European ambitions that push forward innovative solutions. Oceanloop is a perfect example of our commitment to helping startups and scale-ups in their growth phase with the right financing solutions,” said EIB vice-president Nicola Beer.

The EIB loan is supported by the InvestEU program, which aims to trigger more than EUR 372 billion in additional investment in new technologies until 2027. The deal is aligned with the InvestEU objective of promoting research, development and innovation.