Their Seaweed Will Become Furniture and Materials – Secures Millions from IKEA and EU Investor
Nordic SeaFarm is scaling up its seaweed production on the Swedish west coast to contribute to more sustainable materials. The company has now secured funding from Inter IKEA Group and EIT InnoEnergy.“We aim to position ourselves as the ‘Lantmännen of the sea,’ sourcing from other seaweed farmers to meet market demand,” says CEO Simon Hilmersson.
It’s clear that the blue economy is maturing. When I meet Nordic SeaFarm’s CEO Simon Hilmersson and the company’s Commercial Manager Niklas Carlson in Birkastan, Stockholm, we are surrounded by furniture, material samples, and glass jars containing various raw materials for biomaterials.
The concept development agency Interesting Times Gang is housed here. They are carving out a plastic-free future — a coffee table made from seashells, a lamp from orange peels, seaweed-based acoustic panels, 3D-printed designer chairs made of kelp. You can literally feel the potential of the ongoing collaboration.
Regenerative Production
Nordic SeaFarm was founded in 2016 by six marine biology researchers. Initially, it was driven purely by scientific curiosity — after observing large-scale seaweed farms in Asia, they wanted to find out if a similar model could work along the Swedish west coast. Were there any side effects? Apparently not — seaweed acts as both a carbon sink and an ocean purifier.
In simple terms: The more you produce, the better.
Commercializing the pilot facility was not part of the original plan. However, the research team soon realized a growing market interest. Culinary icons like Tommy Myllymäki, Frida Ronge, and Thomas Sjögren started requesting locally-produced seaweed as an ingredient.
The concept became a company, and Simon Hilmersson (then Johansson) was brought on as a business consultant.
“In 2019, a market analysis was presented to the founders. Ten highly promising areas were identified, where I saw that seaweed had the potential to create significant value in the future,” he explains.“Of course, food was the most obvious segment, but biomaterials seemed especially interesting based on market data and future demand. Over the past few years, this has become increasingly apparent, particularly as the EU begins to act against fossil-based plastic usage.”
The presentation was evidently a success. Shortly after, Hilmersson transitioned from consultant to CEO.
Cost-Effective Scaling
Approximately 37 million tons of seaweed are produced globally each year — just 100 tons come from Nordic SeaFarm’s facility in Grebbestad. With growing interest from furniture and packaging producers, the potential for scaling is significant. Today’s cultivation area, allocated by the County Administrative Board, is 30 hectares, but the dialogue is positive, and sustainable marine activities are encouraged. More applications will likely follow.
“In the future, we could produce tens of thousands of tons annually,” predicts Niklas Carlson.“We see ourselves as an upstream B2B company producing a raw material. We don’t need significant investments in new technology or larger facilities to scale up our operations. That’s quite unique.”
Seaweed farmers are relatively plentiful, but Nordic SeaFarm’s potential lies partly in its own capacity for processing and refinement and partly in its management of seaweed seedlings — or “seaweed babies,” as Hilmersson puts it.“We aim to position ourselves as the ‘Lantmännen of the sea,’ sourcing from other seaweed farmers to meet market demand.”
Food or Furniture?
Today, the food industry has dropped to second place on Nordic SeaFarm’s list of priorities. The company has just raised SEK 25 million in a funding round led by energy investor EIT InnoEnergy and furniture giant IKEA.
“Inter IKEA Group is exploring the potential of marine materials as raw materials. They see this as a long-term investment in the future,” says Hilmersson, though he declines to disclose exactly how much each investor has contributed.
Jonas Nordlund, who leads the investment from EIT InnoEnergy’s side, enters the room, seizing the opportunity to meet the seaweed entrepreneurs while they are in town.
This prompts a relevant question: why is EIT InnoEnergy investing in a seaweed producer?
Jonas Nordlund explains that the logic has evolved over time.“We started in 2010 to rally the industry around the green transition. It soon became clear that energy is about more than wind power and batteries,” he says.
The investment company is now active in six thematic areas, with the circular economy becoming increasingly important.“We are moving further back in the value chain. Today’s factories don’t just need green energy — they also need green raw materials in production. Seaweed-based biomaterials are incredibly interesting. The whole blue revolution is exciting, and this is actually our first investment in aquaculture.”
What Do You Offer Beyond Capital?
“EIT InnoEnergy’s philosophy is about creating scaling opportunities for portfolio companies. Of course, we can offer interesting customer contacts, as many of our shareholders are large companies looking at alternative ways to replace plastics with biomaterials. We also help our portfolio companies in a variety of areas to support their growth. It has become an exciting European ecosystem, and we think Nordic SeaFarm fits perfectly as a piece of the puzzle.”
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