Glenrothes-based Seaweed Enterprises Limited has announced its new brand identity House of Seaweed, signifying a pivotal step in the company’s plan to become a leading trade processing hub in Scotland, the UK and beyond.
Having already raised £597,000, over a third of its £1.6 million investment target, this significant move coincides with continued fundraising, part of which will used for a factory fit out, to establish the business as the largest multi-species seaweed processing hub in the UK.
The business, which recently won a Mad Blue award in the Tech & New Economy category at the Madrid Blue Summit, said it has a clear vision “to unlock the European bottleneck curtailing growth by stabilising seaweed at scale and producing quality bulk ingredients.”
Its plans include development “to be the UK’s first BRCGS-accredited multi-seaweed processor, able to handle any seaweed species by enhancing production capabilities and supporting its own journey to Net Zero targets.”
House of Seaweed’s strategic goal is to diversify its revenue base, offering bespoke contract manufacturing services to the wider seaweed industry and selling to multiple growing industries whether in nutraceuticals, bioplastics, biorefineries and beyond as well as the growing food sector.
Seaweed is projected to grow in global market value from $17 billion to $30 billion by 2029. Beyond food, the seaweed sector alone is forecasted to generate $11.8 billion in new revenue.
Despite recent interest and changes, the Scottish seaweed industry remains under-invested, untapped, and highly fragmented.
“The need for a process catalyst such as House of Seaweed allows all parties to come to the table and redress the balance between farmers and the end user,” said House of Seaweed.
“Seaweed is recognised as a potent ocean resource with nutritional, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical benefits, along with agricultural applications as both a fertiliser and foodstuff and a growing list of R&D in biopolymers.
“The new positioning will support House of Seaweed’s communications not only with its customers, but with industry stakeholders, and government partners. Scottish seaweed is a natural and valuable resource and has a key role to play in driving the UK’s sustainability and health agendas.”
House of Seaweed co-founder and CEO Pete Higgins said: “We are thrilled to unveil House of Seaweed, a name that embodies our commitment to excellence, sustainability, and innovation.
“Our new identity reflects and celebrates the brilliance of the raw material we work with and tells the story of who we are, what we do, and the future impact we hope to have on this blue planet.
“We are driven by the environmental and societal impact we can make through our hero ingredient, together as a team alongside our partners, suppliers and customers.
“The whole team at House of Seaweed would like to thank our current investors for their belief in our mission and for joining us on what will be a very exciting journey.”
House of Seaweed co-founder and and brand marketing director Clare Dean said: “We’ve worked hard to launch House of Seaweed to reflect the incredible resource we are building our business upon.
“We have further exciting brands and product launches in the pipeline and are looking forward to working with our seaweed harvesters from Alba Mari in Fife, as well as the growing number of fantastic farmers on Scotland’s West coast and beyond to bring best in class, sustainable and innovative products to several markets keen to exploit local European supply.”