CellX and Bluu Seafood join forces: China's pioneer in cultivated meat and Europe's pioneer in cultivated fish kick off strategic partnership

Berlin/Shanghai, April 07, 2022. To ensure the future supply of animal protein to the constantly growing world population we need new methods of food production. Globally, only a few companies are driving cutting-edge R&D efforts to offer alternatives to the conventional production of meat, fish, and poultry. They use animal cells to produce tasty, sustainable products that eliminate animal suffering and promise an ecological footprint far superior to that of factory farming.

Bluu Seafood (formerly Bluu Biosciences) and CellX, two pioneers in the field of cellular agriculture, have now decided to work together. Bluu Seafood is the first company in Europe specializing in the production of cultivated fish and will present a first product this year. CellX is the leading cultivated meat company in China and has showcased multiple forms of products in 2021. The company is located in Shanghai, the hub for biotech and innovation in China. It started with a focus on domestic Chinese pig breed and has quickly expanded to beef and poultry. Both companies are at the forefront of advancing regulatory approval in their respective region: Chris Dammann, COO of Bluu Seafood, is a VP and board member of Cellular Agriculture Europe, and Ziliang Yang, founder and CEO of CellX, is Secretary of the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture. Bluu Seafood and CellX are now joining forces as part of a strategic partnership. Going forward, the partners will support each other along the whole value chain when expanding into the respective markets – this ranges from the procurement of raw materials to the construction of production facilities and possible sales partnerships. They plan to jointly establish supply partnerships and also promote consumer acceptance of cultivated protein products. The two companies have a different product focus but are committed to the same goal using similar technologies to make cellular agriculture a reality.

"We are pleased to form this strategic partnership with Bluu Seafood as an industry leader in cultivated seafood and board member of Cellular Agriculture Europe. CellX and Bluu Seafood have a complementary focus regarding species and market geographies. This partnership will serve as a starting point for deeper collaboration between the two companies and will encourage more collaboration across the industry. We are solving a global issue, and this requires a global solution," said Ziliang Yang, CEO at CellX.

“China has the world's largest consumption of seafood and is therefore a particularly important market for Bluu Seafood. Together with CellX, we are working to overcome the challenges in sourcing, scaling, and obtaining regulatory approval concerning cultivated fish and meat to bring affordable and tasty products to market. We are delighted about this Chinese-German partnership in which we are working together on the future of food," emphasized Simon Fabich, founder and managing director of Bluu Seafood.

The Berlin-based company is researching and developing at its second location in Lübeck and will open up additional production capacities in Hamburg this year.

About CellX

CellX is a leading cellular agriculture start-up located in Shanghai, the biotech and innovation hub in China. CellX started with domestic Chinese pig breed and has quickly expanded to beef and poultry. With a team of thirty, CellX is working to bring cultivated meat products to consumers in China and around the world. The company is co-founded by two impact entrepreneurs, Ziliang Yang and Ran Liu, and two top scientists, Dr Ning Xiang and Dr Binlu Huang. The team has made significant progress since their founding in 2020, and they have now moved into the next phase of development - scaling up and reducing cost. CellX is collaborating with top universities and leading companies in China and around the world to advance the research and development of cultivated meat, and the company is accelerating market launch and cultivated meat approval as a key player in the APAC region. More information at www.cellx.cn

About Bluu Seafood

The food technology company Bluu Seafood (formerly Bluu Biosciences) is the first company in Europe to specialize in the commercial production of cultivated fish. As a pioneer at the intersection of biotechnology and food technology, Bluu Seafood aims to produce healthy, sustainable, and delicious cell-cultured fish products. The aim is to produce fish products in a sustainable and cost-efficient manner, thus making a significant contribution to securing the future supply of animal protein to mankind. The food technology company, based in Berlin and with scientific facilities in Lübeck, was founded in 2020 by Dr Sebastian Rakers and Simon Fabich with an expert team of marine biologists, cell biologists, tissue engineers and food engineers. In April 2021, entrepreneur, and molecular biologist Dr Christian Dammann joined the management team as Chief Operating Officer. Regarding research & development, Bluu Seafood cooperates closely with Fraunhofer Institute for Marine Biotechnology and Cell Technology (EMB; now Fraunhofer IMTE) in Lübeck and has a state-of-the-art R&D environment. More information at www.bluu.bio