Vaccinated shrimp significantly reduce operational costs of disease management and provide affordable disease solutions in aquaculture
ViAqua Therapeutics , a biotechnology company and developer of an orally delivered RNA particle platform to promote and improve animal health in aquaculture, announced that it has closed an $8.25 million investment round led by S2G Ventures with participation from Rabo Ventures, The Trendlines Group Ltd., Agriline Limited, Nutreco, I-Lab Angels and Circle Investments LLC.
Aquaculture is essential to improve food security, provide a healthy and sustainable food source, and protect wild fish stocks in the face of growing demand for marine protein. However, disease management is currently the biggest issue facing the aquaculture sector, with an economic impact of more than $8.5 billion for the shrimp sector alone, according to an analysis by Kontali.
To address this issue, ViAqua has developed a biotechnology-based oral delivery platform for targeted delivery of RNA-based solutions to improve disease resistance in aquaculture.
“Oral administration is the holy grail of aquaculture health development due to the inability to vaccinate individual shrimp and its ability to significantly reduce operational costs of disease management while improving outcomes,” said Shai Ufaz, CEO of ViAqua.
“Aquaculture is essential for the sustainable supply of marine protein,” said Kate Danaher, Managing Director of S2G Ventures’ Oceans and Seafood Fund. “ViAqua’s technology platform will enable the company to go beyond WSSV and tackle many other aquaculture diseases when similar technologies are still a long way from reaching the market.”
ViAqua manufactures its capsules using commercial industrial processes and is increasing production in order to launch its first product on the market. With a view to commencing production in India in early 2024, the company has established a commercial partnership through a joint development and marketing agreement with Skretting, a Nutreco company, to bring the product to market. Although ViAqua is currently focused on shrimp production, the delivery technology offers numerous applications in aquaculture and beyond, which the company is eager to explore.
