Ocean Harvest intends to develop a 2,000 metric ton land-based salmon farm near Abu Dhabi.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) land-based salmon farmer Ocean Harvest is setting its sights on a $180 million Series A funding round, with plans to amass the capital through a blend of equity and debt financing.
The firm’s primary agenda is to inaugurate a 100,000 sq.m. salmon farming facility in Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates.
The company has also initiated preliminary preparations for a potential expansion into Saudi Arabia, according to business news service Zawaya, and confirmed to SalmonBusiness by founder Robert Kupstas.
“We are building Ocean Harvest with scale in mind, but expansion projects will take better shape after the build-out and operation of our inaugural farm in the UAE – which will provide a credible proof point for everything that follows,” Kupstas told Zawya:
“Throughout our fundraising, however, we will focus on pre-development activities for a project in Saudi Arabia and expansion of our planned UAE facility in late 2025 or early 2026.”
Kupstas said the company had already completed ‘significant amount of legwork’, meeting with large institutional salmon buyers in the kingdom.
“We’ve also had productive exchanges with the relevant authorities and government entities and are looking forward to progressing those conversations,” he said.
Ocean Harvest, which was founded by Kupstas in 2021, intends to develop a 2,000 metric ton land-based salmon farm using recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technology near the capital of Abu Dhabi.
The project is being supported by partners Danish Billund Aquaculture and France-based water treatment firm Suez. The group is also partnered with Belgian construction group Besix and UAE-based industrial group Tech Group, who are major investors in the company.
