What is Wildtype trying to accomplish?

Fish have been growing all by themselves well before humans came on the scene. So why go through all this work to do what nature does for us?

Each year, 180 million tons of healthy, protein-rich seafood is eaten all over the world. We get all that fish by catching them in their natural habitats through commercial fishing, or growing fish ourselves through a process called aquaculture. Demand for seafood is growing, but commercial fishing has pushed wild populations to the brink and aquaculture is plagued with public health concerns.

We need to develop ways to feed our growing population without jeopardizing our environment. Our current seafood system is incapable of delivering on this promise. If we want to keep eating the seafood we love and protect the biodiversity of our oceans, we need a new source beyond wild and farmed fish.

In 2016, our founders set out to create that new source. Cellular agriculture was still in its infancy, and they knew it would take years to create a scalable process. We recognize that Wildtype as a company could “succeed,” but the planet could still fail. Even at scale, it’s impossible for one company to meet global seafood demand (over $1.7 trillion per year).