News Sustainability
Big Akwa secures funding for land-based trout farm permit

Big Akwa, an aquaculture start-up based in Sweden, has secured SEK 4.75 million (US$459,341) in funding to finance the environmental permit in Alby Industripark in Ånge municipality, for the company’s planned land-based rainbow trout farm. The money was raised through a combination of share issue and loans.

The company intends to use a co-location approach in the construction of its facility which will have an annual production of 6,000 tons.

“The capital injection helps us get clear in the permit process so that we can obtain an environmental permit in the near future and grow up to 6,000 tons of rainbow trout in a sustainable way in symbiosis with the others in the industrial park,” said Hugo Wikström, co-founder of Big Akwa.

The upcoming land-based fish farm will be operated “in industrial symbiosis” s with other industries near or adjacent to Alby Industripark, according to Big Akwa.

In this scenario, Big Akwa’s facility can use heat generated by a nearby pulp facility to warm the fish farm water. Wastewater released from the aquaculture facility will be use for water purification purposes by the pulp producer.

The technology is scalable and can be paired to any pulp/paper mill, helping the local economy and providing a fresher sustainable product, according to Big Akwa.

The share issue of SEK 1.75 million was made to the already existing investors Sparbanksstiftelsen Norrlands Riskkapitalstiftelse and Almi Invest Mitt and is part of the company’s second investment round. The new loans of SEK 3 million were secured through Almi Företagspartner and Norrlandsfonden.