© Oceanloop
After several years of biological and technical development, Oceanloop has become the first company to farm giant grouper in Europe. Sales from its existing land-based farm in Strande near Kiel began in April 2026 through Oceanloop’s sister company Honest Catch, marking the transition from research and development to commercial production. The existing facility is expected to supply approximately 20to 30 tonnes per year.
The new financing combines equity commitments from Hatch Blue’s Blue Revolution Fund and Stolt Ventures with a €32 million venture-debt facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB), backed by the InvestEU programme.
The capital will support two expansion projects:
- Construction of a 250-tonne farm in Kiel starting by the end of 2026.
- Development of a 2,000-tonne commercial facility on Gran Canaria, with construction planned for 2029.
“This financing marks the beginning of Oceanloop’s industrial scale-up,” said Dr Fabian Riedel, founder and chief executive of Oceanloop in a press release. “Together with our shareholder and technology partner Sander, we have spent more than a decade developing, operating and continuously improving land-based marine aquaculture systems. With Hatch Blue, Stolt Ventures and the European Investment Bank, we are bringing together specialist aquaculture investment expertise, decades of commercial seafood experience and long-term European growth financing.”
Bert Wecker, founder and chief technology officer, noted that while European operations focus on giant grouper, the system is built for global replication. Georg Baunach, founder and chief executive officer of Hatch Blue, highlighted Oceanloop’s technical expertise, while Axel de Mégille, head of Stolt Ventures, cited the strong strategic alignment with Stolt-Nielsen’s decades of aquaculture experience.
