Into the weeds: Marine Biologics’ data unlocks seaweed’s potential

Food-tech startup Marine Biologics is turning seaweed into a powerhouse ingredient for functional foods, using predictive modeling and AI to maximize its full potential with precision and consistency.

The company is addressing a key challenge in using seaweed as a raw material: the natural variability in chemical composition, explained Sally Aaron, chief commercial officer, Marine Biologics.

While seaweed’s diversity offers a wealth of innovation potential, it also presents consistency challenges for product development, Aaron said.

To overcome this, the company focuses on a deep understanding of the chemical composition of different seaweed species, using data to ensure a stable supply chain while also uncovering new functional applications, she explained.

“Every time we work with a different source of seaweed, we are benchmarking the compound so that we understand what exactly is available in there. That is a huge relief to innovators who are wanting to work with our material” and who will receive a consistent chemical profile each time, Aaron added.

Getting ‘a little bit more into the weeds’

Rather than refining single molecules, Marine Biologics aims to “take advantage of the chemical diversity within the seaweeds to deliver improved functionality” by leveraging existing data and “look at it in different unique ways,” Aaron said.

Between the “50-plus years of hard chemical data” on broader chemical classes in seaweed varieties and working with seaweed farmers on different varieties, Marine Biologics’ expanding chemical and functional data provides its customers with more than the “nutritional profile,” explained Spencer Serin, chief scientific officer at Marine Biologics.

“It is not enough to say ‘Oh yeah, the carbohydrates are 40%‘” you need to get a little bit more into the weeds and that is something we do with an internal testing strategy and also with external data sets and collaboration,” Serin added.

Scaling kelp and expanding seaweed varieties

The company’s primary focus is on kelp, sourced from Alaska, where farmers are exploring multiple species by leveraging cultivation techniques suited for these species, Serin said.

While kelp remains the focus, Marine Biologics plans to expand into other seaweed types, including widely cultivated red seaweeds and even invasive species from the Caribbean, he added.

“We want to develop our strategy so that it works with all types of seaweeds. It is relatively agnostic to the form. It is chemical analysis coupled with computation, predictive modeling and different functional properties,” Serin said.

Bringing seaweed-based ingredients to market

Marine Biologics’ strides over the last year led to team expansion, refined data and introducing seaweed-based innovations to the market.

It recently launched their Super Crude ingredient, a raw material intermediate designed to support novel emulsification systems, which it is actively sampling for customers, Aaron said.

While Marine Biologics’ current priority is emulsification and texture innovation, they see their technology as an “enabler for novel proteins” for companies looking to incorporate high-protein ingredients with better taste and stability, Aarons said.

“How do we use our technology, from a seaweed standpoint, to enable some of these other functional proteins to better exist in application?” she added.

Future opportunities in functional foods

The company also recognizes seaweed’s potential in fiber and gut health, positioning themselves to support future trends as its AI-driven predictive modeling advances.

Looking ahead, Marine Biologics is focused on integrating cost benchmarking and scalability into their system to streamline adoption, especially as seaweed gains traction in functional foods and across product categories beyond traditional uses, Aarons added.