Seaweed: The Ocean’s Untapped Investment Opportunity
- Potato Impact Partners
- Apr 17
- 6 min read
This is a piece originally published on LinkedIn in collaboration with Toniic, a global community of asset owners seeking deeper positive net impact across the spectrum of capital.
“Seaweed is more than a superfood—it’s a solution. It can potentially transform food security, climate resilience, and coastal economies. Yet, investment is still lagging where it’s needed most.”
— Sarah Wan-Yau, Potato Impact Partners
Potato Impact Partners firmly believes that seaweed is one of the most underutilized solutions to global challenges—it grows without freshwater, fertilizers, or land, making it a low-input, high-impact resource for food, climate, and ocean health. Despite this, 98% of seaweed is grown in Asia, while the majority of capital flows to North America and Europe—a glaring mismatch between where seaweed innovation happens and where the funding goes.
Thus, Potato Impact Partners (PIP) is on a mission to change that. As one of the few impact investors solely dedicated to seaweed innovations, they are pioneering a new model of impact investing—one that bridges capital gaps, supports regenerative aquaculture, and hopes to connect local expertise in Asia with global investors who have largely overlooked this space.
In this conversation, Managing Director Sarah Wan-Yau and the team share why they’ve gone all-in on seaweed, their vision for the sector’s future, and why now is the time for investors to take this opportunity seriously.
Q: Let's dive straight into it: Why has Potato Impact Partners made seaweed the cornerstone of its investment strategy?
The global food system is at a breaking point. Climate change is affecting crop yields, and coastal communities—particularly in Southeast Asia—are among the most vulnerable. Seaweed offers a scalable, nature-based solution. It grows without freshwater, fertilizers, or land, making it one of the most sustainable regenerative crops available. Beyond food, seaweed plays a role in soil and crop health (via biostimulants), alternative and natural fuels and materials, and agricultural feed that reduces methane emissions.
Yet, despite its potential, 98% of seaweed is grown in Asia, while the majority of capital is deployed in North America and Europe. There’s a major disconnect between where seaweed production is happening and where the funding is going. Our goal is to close that gap and drive investment into the communities that have been growing and innovating in this space for generations.
Q: How does your investment approach differ from traditional funds?
We don’t consider our portfolio only a financial investment—we’re here to ignite transformation. While traditional investors often wait for proof of concept before entering a new sector, we take the opposite approach. We believe high-conviction, catalytic capital is essential to de-risk opportunities and unlock seaweed’s full potential.
Beyond providing funding, we also take an active role in scaling our portfolio companies—connecting founders with investors, industry networks, and strategic resources. That’s because we’re not just backing businesses; we’re building the ecosystem needed to make seaweed a sustainable, impactful, and scalable industry.
Q: Can you share examples from your portfolio that illustrate your investment thesis?
Absolutely. Our direct investments include:
Sea6 Energy, a pioneer in the ocean economy, is transforming
cultivated tropical seaweed biomass harvested through large-scale mechanized seaweed farming into carbon-negative, sustainable feedstock for large industrial applications in agriculture, food, and materials. Sea6 is building a sustainable planet free of fossil fuel-based economy.
Cascadia Seaweed grows local species of kelp on regenerative ocean farms in partnership with coastal First Nations. They then harvest that kelp and manufacture products for agriculture, helping farmers increase yields while reducing emissions. They're building a scalable, circular system that enhances the natural environment and provides economic opportunity for Indigenous and coastal communities.
Coast 4C is aggregating and modernizing thousands of smallholder farmers to build a dependable supply of quality, responsible seaweed that revives our ocean and addresses the bottleneck in supply for multiple markets. They support farmers in achieving regenerative and economically and environmentally sustainable practices, while enabling buyers to access seaweed at competitive prices.
Ocean Rainforest cultivates and processes premium, fully traceable seaweed in the North Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean to produce high-performance functional feed ingredients, biostimulants, and crop protection products for agriculture. With a strong focus on sustainability and science-backed innovation, they offer natural solutions that enhance plant health, boost productivity, and increase resilience. Driven by the vision of creating "local ocean rainforests" globally, Ocean Rainforest contributes to environmental regeneration while promoting more sustainable food production systems.
Potato Impact Partners is excited to support these companies because their scalable, nature-based solutions—reducing industrial chemicals, improving crop health and yields, and lowering farming emissions—offer a powerful means to address global food security and climate change.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges facing seaweed investing today?
Some recurring challenges we’ve encountered in this space include:
Limited access to non-dilutive funding outside of North America and Europe makes it difficult for startups in Southeast Asia to launch proof-of-concept initiatives.
The industry lacks clear benchmarks or breakout success stories, and many parts of the supply chain are still being built from the ground up.
Traditional VC return expectations don’t always align with seaweed business models, which often require longer timelines and patient capital.
High upfront capital requirements mean that many companies rely on consistent, ongoing fundraising—a journey that’s often difficult in such a nascent space.
Q: Where do you see the seaweed sector heading in the next five years?
We are just scratching the surface. In five years, we expect to see:
Greater investment in bioprocessing technologies to expand seaweed’s applications beyond food.
More structured capital flows into Asia, where most seaweed is grown.
Stronger market demand for seaweed-based products, from fertilizers to alternative plastics.
Closer collaboration between climate investors and ocean-focused investors, recognizing the cross-cutting benefits of seaweed.
Q: I also noted that your team is fully female-led, which is rare in impact investing. How has that shaped your journey?
It wasn’t intentional—it happened organically as we built our team around talent and mission alignment. But we’ve found ourselves in rooms where we’re often the only women, and even more rarely, the only women of color. That’s made us even more committed to creating inclusive investment spaces and ensuring diverse voices are heard in conversations about sustainable finance.
We also integrate a gender lens into our work. Women make up half of the workforce in many of the coastal communities we support. By investing in seaweed, we’re not just backing a sustainable resource—we’re supporting livelihoods and economic opportunities for women in these communities.
Q: If you could leave impact investors with one message about seaweed, what would it be?
Seaweed isn’t just another sustainability trend—it’s a multi-solution investment opportunity. It addresses food security, climate resilience, and ocean health simultaneously. But if we don’t direct capital where it’s needed—particularly to the communities that have been leading in this space for decades—we risk missing one of the biggest opportunities in regenerative investing.
Bio Sarah Wan-Yau:
Sarah leads and directs strategic impact investments and partnership initiatives, and leverages the assets and networks of Potato sister companies across the Asia-Pacific to elevate PIP’s work and impact globally. Previously, Sarah served dual roles as Senior Advisor to Potato Productions and Representative for The Asia Foundation in Singapore, heading regional programs and initiatives across Southeast Asia.
Sarah lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two kids, and enjoys reading, practicing yoga, and hosting themed parties.
About Potato Impact Partners:
Potato Impact Partners (PIP) is a social venture spurring positive contributions to food security, climate action, and the resilience of coastal communities through impact investments in sustainable seaweed innovations. PIP is a subsidiary of Potato Productions, a group of social technology ventures in Singapore spanning design, media, publishing, film and entertainment, education, and healthcare.
Join the Conversation: Potato Impact Partners is actively looking to collaborate with investors, researchers, and ecosystem builders who share their vision. If you're interested in learning more or exploring co-investment opportunities, reach out to them at hello@potatoimpactpartners.com.
More about Toniic on www.toniic.com. This Q&A was authored by ChiaYen Gan, Manager, Communications & Investment Researcher at Toniic.
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