DLA Piper advised Nordic Foodtech VC with its investment on PaRAS Aqua Ltd’s new solution for fish farming innovation

DLA Piper advised Nordic Foodtech VC with its investment in Natural Resources Institute Finland’s (Luke) first spin-off, PaRAS Aqua Ltd. PaRAS Aqua Ltd is the first start-up to emerge from Luke's Research to Business project and their Partial air-driven Recirculation Aquaculture System (PaRAS) was developed at Luke. The goal of PaRAS Aqua Ltd. is to implement the PaRAS technology across the world.

Nordic Foodtech VC, a fund launched in 2020, invests in early-stage companies aiming to radically renew the food system. The fund has 42M€ to invest in approximately 20 companies in the Nordics and Baltics.

PaRAS fish farming method is a new solution for aquaculture challenges, answering the increased demand for fish consumption. PaRAS is a cost-effective and flexible method to produce high quality fish with minimal environmental impact. The PaRAS partial recirculation system consumes significantly less energy than existing recirculation plants, and its feed efficiency is up to tens of percent better. The PaRAS concept has been tested and developed at Luke for four years, during which time more than 30 tonnes of fish have been produced. Business Finland's Research to Business funding helped to finalize the concept for commercialization.

The most recent land-based projects have been based on foreign technology, so a Finnish company based around Finnish technology is a welcomed addition to the market.

“We believe in solving the hard underlying problems in food and farming with new technology built on scientific discovery and solid engineering – the deep foodtech of which PaRAS fish farming method is an excellent example”, says Pekka Siivonen-Uotila from Nordic Foodtech VC.

DLA Piper is proud to support their client in driving forward such a socially significant and sustainable innovation.

“It is always a pleasure to work with Nordic Foodtech VC and its professional investment team. The investments of the fund have potential to create a significantly more sustainable and fair food system important to the whole society and we are keen to work together with the fund in building a better future through legal advisory on the investments”, says Head of Corporate Salla Tuominen from DLA Piper.

The DLA Piper advisory team comprised Salla Tuominen and Josefine Jahnsson.

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