Mapping Start-Up Success at the Blue Food Innovation Summit
The Blue Food Innovation Summit is the premier platform for start-ups looking to accelerate their growth and amplify the impact of their solutions within the blue food sector. By connecting innovators, investors, and industry leaders, the summit creates unique opportunities for scaling ground breaking ideas towards impact.
To showcase its tangible impact, we caught up with Megan Sorby of Pine Island Redfish and Sarah Carroll of MariHealth Solutions, a year after their pitches at the summit. Both have made significant strides since their participation, and in this follow-up, they share insights into their progress, the evolution of their projects, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Read their stories offering a glimpse into the real-world outcomes of the summit, highlighting the lasting value of these connections and the momentum it creates for start-ups striving to make a difference in the sustainable food and health sectors.
MariHealth Solutions: Advanced Metrics to Optimise Aquatic Health
What aquaculture/blue food challenge does your technology solve?
Sarah Carroll: MariHealth Solutions addresses key challenges in aquaculture, including disease outbreaks, suboptimal growth, and the need for sustainable farming practices. Our proteomics services provide detailed insights into the health and physiology of aquatic species, identifying proteins linked to stress, disease, and nutritional efficiency. This data helps farmers proactively manage health issues, reduce mortality rates, and optimise feed use, leading to healthier fish and more sustainable, profitable aquaculture operations.
What are your company’s recent key milestones?
Sarah Carroll: Since attending the summit, we’ve expanded into Norway and the EU, strengthened our brand, and launched a collaborative research project with the University of Bergen. We’ve also secured partnerships with key feed producers, conducted a pilot study in Northern Norway, and completed a rebrand to better target our market. These milestones reflect our growth and strategic focus on international expansion and innovation.
What is your strategy for weathering the current economic climate and turning growth into profitability?
Sarah Carroll: We’re focusing on innovation and operational efficiency to drive sustainable growth. By offering data-driven services that reduce costs and enhance performance, we create direct value for clients. Our lean operations optimise resources while AI helps us stay agile. Strategic partnerships also expand our reach, diversify our client base, and share knowledge to strengthen our position in the market.
What value did the Blue Food Innovation Summit provide last year?
Sarah Carroll: The summit offered a rare opportunity to connect with global industry leaders, especially valuable for those from regions with developing aquaculture sectors, like South Africa. It helped refine our pitch and broadened our perspective on sustainability, climate resilience, and new technologies. The event fostered collaborative thinking and allowed us to showcase our solutions to a wider audience, strengthening our client relationships and investment opportunities.
What advice would you offer start-ups fundraising in today’s climate?
Sarah Carroll: For start-ups, focus on crafting a clear, compelling narrative that highlights your value proposition and scalability. Demonstrate traction through early revenues, partnerships, or pilot results. Be transparent about your business model and risks. Build relationships with investors who understand your industry, and be prepared for a longer fundraising cycle. Patience and a solid financial plan focused on efficiency are key to securing investment.
Pine Island Redfish: Pioneering Regenerative Aquaculture
What aquaculture / blue food challenge does your technology solve?
Megan Sorby: Pine Island Redfish not only brings a high value marine species back to year-round, domestic production, we address one of the major stakeholder concerns of any type of aquaculture: waste. We are a regenerative aquaculture company, repurposing all of our salty, nutrient rich waste to grow mangroves for coastal restoration.
What value did the Blue Food Innovation Summit provide last year?
Megan Sorby: The summit provided a platform to share our origin story and map our optimal pathway for growth to a diverse set of stakeholders. From those interested in the diversification of aquaculture species to those focused on regenerative farming and habitat restoration to groups looking to prepare a workforce to support this type of farming future, we were able to connect with a wide audience and achieve the advancement of multiple goals and collaborations in one conference.
What are your company’s recent key milestones? How has it grown since attending the summit in the past?
Megan Sorby: We have achieved (1) critical advancements in design of our larger facility, (2) increased available genetics to kickstart new progress in our selective breeding program, something that has not been a focus with our species, and (3) secured collaborative engagements with mangrove restoration groups to widen the impact of our mangroves and replanting efforts.
What is your strategy for weathering the current economic climate and turning growth into profitability?
Megan Sorby: The future of food is now: we need to face the challenges and support solutions no matter what the economic climate. This is our mission and the necessary change we are creating at Pine Island Redfish. It is not a question of “if” our growth and change spreads across our sector, but “how fast”. Our strategy is continuing to do what we are good at; growing beautiful fish, working in collaboration with natural ecosystems and conditions, delivering a better-quality product and providing for the longevity of the system itself. Our results speak for themselves, and the beauty of regenerative aquaculture is it successfully addresses our industry challenges and will become the standard in farming in the near future.
What advice would you offer start-ups who are fundraising in today’s challenging economic climate?
Megan Sorby: Lean into your industry colleagues. Collaboration with your fellow start-ups, your mentors, and your advisors will help (1) provide network, (2) remind you of the patience to wait for the right investment partner, one you won’t regret, and (3) empower you to stay mission focused amidst the noise.
Megan and Sarah showcased their solutions as part of the Start-Up Showcase and Start-Up Exhibition at the Blue Food Innovation Summit in 2024. To explore start-up opportunities and discover how you can get involved with the Blue Food Innovation Summit – click here.
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