Three-Sixty Aquaculture, the UK’s only sushi-grade prawn farm, has raised £3.5m from investors, including renowned chef Marcus Wareing.
The business claims to have pioneered the UK’s only indoor fish farm, producing fresh prawns that it said could provide an alternative for some of the 78,000 tonnes of prawns imported each year from overseas.
It will use the funding to open a new facility in south Wales, which will supply UK restaurants and sell direct to consumers online.
Sales are expected to commence in early 2025, with a view to the business expanding its UK prawn farming operations to more than 2,000 tonnes.
“Demand for prawns is growing globally but the expansion of traditional prawn farming puts increasing pressure on the natural environment,” said CEO James Fox-Davies.
“Completing this round of funding puts us well on the way to expanding our sustainable British sushi-grade prawn farm, which will not only help address these environmental issues but bring locally grown, fresh and delicious-tasting prawns to UK diners.”
Three-Sixty Aquaculture said nearly all the prawns in the UK arrive frozen yet are mislabelled as fresh. Freezing fish compromises taste, texture and nutritional value, the company added.
Its technology is patent-pending and was devised with input from Swansea University’s robotics and engineering departments. It is a clearwater system that continuously cleans and recycles water using mechanical and biological filtration, advanced disease control measures, biosecurity protocols, and UV disinfection.
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