Barcelona-based KOA Biotech, a biotechnology company specialising in innovative solutions for the aquaculture industry, has secured €2M in funding. The round was led by Swanlaab Innvierte Agrifood-Tech, with participation from Fund-F and Faber.
KOA Biotech will use the capital to develop its technology, strengthen its position in the sector, and execute its commercial plan for future growth.
Nora Alonso, General Partner of Swanlaab Innvierte Agrifood-Tech, says, “At Swanlaab, we would like to emphasise that KOA’s innovative technology enables the optimisation of natural resource usage, reduces environmental impact, and addresses critical challenges such as production, food security, and climate change.”
“Investing in technological and innovative companies like KOA is key for the development and value creation based on the research conducted in this sector in Spain, as well as a lever for the development and differentiation of the country’s agri-food sector, with a global impact.”
“Additionally, it represents an opportunity to attract foreign investment in this sector, as in the case of KOA, which in this investment round has the participation of two international impact funds, Fund-F and FABER.”
Improving disease management in aquaculture
Over half of the fish consumed globally comes from aquaculture, but infections in fish farms pose a growing issue. According to KOA CEO, Sira Mogas, these infections can lead to production losses of up to 30 per cent, which is estimated to cost the industry more than $6B.
KOA Biotech has developed a biosensor system that forms an autonomous device for the early detection of waterborne infections. This allows for preventive measures in production systems, reducing infection spread, mortality in fish farms, and antibiotic use.
The Spanish company says, “Our solution is based on an innovative hybrid technology that combines living organisms which can detect pathogens of interest, and a micro-electronic interface to transform the signals in an online platform. This information is thresholded to send early warning alerts when a certain pathogen is exceeding its relative abundance.”
KOA Biotech was founded as a spin-off of Pompeu Fabra University based on its founder’s doctoral thesis. It aims to advance disease diagnosis and prevention in aquaculture while promoting sustainable practices. KOA Biotech’s structure is based on biotechnology, data engineering, and hardware development.
Brief about the investors
Swanlaab Venture Factory is a Spanish VC firm with over 20 years of experience investing in startups across B2B software, biotech, and agrifoodtech. The team has founded startups, managed VC funds, and supported the launch of over 200 companies, aiming to help Spanish entrepreneurs succeed globally.
Fund F is an early-stage VC fund investing in gender-diverse founder teams in Europe. Backed by data showing stronger performance in teams with at least one female co-founder, Fund F provides up to €600K in pre-seed and seed funding. The fund emerged from Female Founders, a European community for female entrepreneurs with 85,000 members.
Founded in 2013, Faber is a Lisbon-based VC firm investing in early-stage deeptech startups at the intersection of science and technology, focusing on digital transformation and climate action. The firm supports entrepreneurs in applied sciences, AI, climate and oceans (pre-seed and seed). It has backed companies like Unbabel, Seedrs, Codacy, and Sword Health.
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