First commercial orders mark a significant milestone in the growth of local startup SeaStock.
Fremantle biotechnology company SeaStock has reached a significant milestone, securing the first commercial supply contract for its feed additives.
Founded in 2021, SeaStock specialises in the production of methane-reducing additives for ruminant animals.
Its contract is with FutureFeed, an entity established by the CSIRO, which owns the global intellectual property for the use of native Asparagopsis seaweed as a livestock feed ingredient.
SeaStock’s natural bioactive compound, bromoform, is derived from Asparagopsis, and has been found to reduce methane emissions produced by cows and other ruminant animals by up to 80 per cent, according to at least one study.
“The bromoform is stabilised and concentrated in canola oil,” SeaStock co-founder and managing director Tom Puddy said.
“Essentially, we sell that to a feed mill manufacturer or a large dairy operator. They then dilute this into the feed, so the cows consume it.”
Emissions from ruminant livestock are a major issue facing the farming sector.
Cows naturally produce methane, and estimates by the United Nations Environment Program suggest livestock emissions contribute about 32 per cent of human-caused methane emissions.
Through its seaweed additive, SeaStock hopes to help combat this.
SeaStock has developed a highly concentrated product that allows for the export of small volumes, reducing overall supply chain costs and emissions.
SeaStock is not the first company offering bromoform supplements, but it is the first and only to have ‘mass-induced’ Asparagopsis spores to grow and cultivate four times faster than they would in the ocean. $150-$300
R-PE MARKET PRICE PER MILLIGRAM
SeaStock has also developed a process called dual-extraction, which allows it to extract another compound from the same biomass: R-Phycoerythrin (R-PE).
The discovery of R-PE in Asparagopsis was an unexpected breakthrough for SeaStock.
Initially focused on enhancing the production and processing of Asparagopsis to reduce livestock emissions, SeaStock’s strategy grew to explore additional natural compounds within the biomass.
“At the beginning, we did not know the R-PE was available until after the first year of research,” Mr Puddy said.
“When we investigated further, we developed the dual extraction method to preserve the biomass when extracting the bromoform compound and to enable the extraction of R-PE.”
R-PE is a naturally occurring pigment found in red algae.
This pigment is highly valuable due to its wide range of applications. It serves as a natural dye in the food, beverage, and cosmetics industries, while its high fluorescence makes it useful in scientific research such as flow cytometry. When purified, R-PE can be used as a research tool to better understand neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.
SeaStock purifies R-PE in its own lab, ensuring a purity that commands a market price ranging from $150 to $300 per milligram.
The product constitutes about 80 per cent of the company’s revenue. The remainder comes from the bromoform oil.
“Dual extraction is probably the jewel in the crown for our business,” Mr Puddy told Business News.
“That’s a huge advantage that we’ve got, and it’s a massive differentiator. Our key point of difference is [the way] we process the material.”
In its small-scale pilot plant in Fremantle, which has a capacity of 12,000 litres, SeaStock can produce 50 kilograms of cultured biomass each month.
From this, the company can generate 60,000 milligrams of bromoform and 100,000 milligrams of R-PE.
“With our first commercial order now secured, we are progressing our plans for the expansion of our production and processing facilities in Western Australia to cater for expected demand growth globally,” Mr Puddy said.
With the support of a $140,000 federal grant through the Industry Growth Program announced last month, SeaStock is going ahead with plans to build a large-scale commercial module in Kwinana, with construction targeted for completion in 2026 and operational commencement expected by 2027.
The facility will have a production capacity of 500,000 litres, yielding approximately 330 million milligrams of bromoform and 200 million milligrams of R-PE annually.
However, before the company can reach full-scale deployment, it is seeking to raise strategic capital of $5 million, which will go towards design engineering, construction costs, market strategy at a commercial level, and general overheads.
So far, the company has raised $1.7 million, which has mostly come from friends, family, and local seed investors. Given the challenges associated with securing investors in Australia, SeaStock will shift focus to Europe and the US.
“We haven’t really pushed the investment route internationally; we are talking to companies now,” Mr Puddy said.
“They want to see samples, financials, and more.
“We have only achieved these high-grade results of pigment purification in April, and the oil concentration levels were only really done two months ago.
“We have released that data, and now we’re starting to see a bit more interest internationally because of that.”
Not that the company’s stocks aren’t already on the rise overseas.
Last October, it won the Louis Dreyfus Company Climate Resilience Prize, a Switzerland-based global competition for startups focused on climate change.
SeaStock was recognised for innovative approach to seaweed cultivation and processing, which was described as: “A solution that can plug into the existing supply chain, thus scale fast to cut emissions in the short and medium term”.
Mr Puddy told Business News SeaStock was serious about its products and committed the opportunities they offered.
“We are not a charade of greenwashing,” he said.
“We are actually building something tangible that people can buy; a material product that will help their business reduce emissions and help the environment at the same time.
“We are actually delivering a solution, not just talking about it.”
