Slaughter-Free Fish Startup Raises $3.5 Million

California-based technology startup Finless Foods recently raised $3.5 million in capital funding led by investment firm Draper Associates. The company specializes in creating clean fish—made from a small amount of animal cells in a lab setting—and, according to CEO Mike Seldon, will use the funding to finish its research and development phase and begin production. “We’ve already dramatically lowered cost and secured precious cellular material that will push us into rapid commercialization within years, not decades,” Seldon said. Seldon expects that Finless Foods’ clean fish—the production of which initially cost $19,000 per pound—will reach price parity to bluefin tuna by 2019. Heavily funded clean-meat startups around the world are aiming to reduce the number of animals that are slaughtered for food, including California-based company Wild Earth which recently developed koji-based dog treats and will eventually debut nutritionally complete clean-meat based foods for companion animals.