The ISH Company, a B Corp-certified plant-based food company, has raised $5 million in a seed round led by Boston-based Acceler8. Kansas-based Stray Dog Capital and other angel investors participated, as the Delaware startup’s total funding rose to $10 million.
“The plant-based market has seen incredible growth over the past couple of years, but there is a massive lack of seafood substitutes,” said ISH founder and CEO Bernard David, who embraced the “innovative, sustainable and healthy” lifestyle exemplified by the initials in his three-year-old startup’s name.
David has explained ISH’s initial focus on seafood, saying it accounts for two-thirds of consumption away from home. With innovative technology and careful sampling of ingredients, a process it calls Whole System Approach, the company is developing healthy — and tasty — alternatives to shrimp, lobster, crab, salmon and cod.
Acceler8 is an “impact” fund that aims to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. Its director Justin Kern, who oversaw the firm’s investment in ISH, is a microbiologist with a special focus on sustainable future food chain. Formally trained as a microbiologist and molecular biologist at University of Chicago and Stanford, respectively, he previously worked at McKinsey’s agriculture and healthcare unit. Acceler8’s recent investments include Boston Materials, Equii and Brimstone Energy.
Entrepreneur and Educator
Years before starting ISH on a “lived experience” — a heart attack in 2018 and his subsequent quest for a healthier diet — David built several businesses including SaveSmart, which he sold to Infospace, and officesupplies.com, which was acquired by Office Depot. He has also taught entrepreneurship at the Wharton School, and served as an adviser to the Environmental Protection Agency.
David pushed shrimp alternatives — dubbed Shrimpish and Shrimpish Crumbles — as ISH’s first products for two reasons. Firstly, shrimp remains the most popular seafood item in the U.S., and secondly, shrimp farming causes four times more greenhouse gas emissions than beef. ISH also has several other products in the pipeline, all of which are developed using its “whole system approach.”
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Simply said, the approach “means we think about every single step, from soil and water to table, and ask ourselves how we can make it healthier for all involved,” the company explains. “Our ultimate goal is to create a system that restores and is in balance with the needs of the earth.”
In an interview with TechCrunch, David spoke about how his company evaluates ingredients in order to get them right, and “as close as it can to traditional seafood.” ISH reportedly identified over 25 different textures, and finally used in its products “natural ingredients, like coconut and algae, to mimic the flavor of shrimp and other seafood products.”
“No one’s doing that type of screening,” he told TechCrunch. “For example, methyl cellulose is quite abundant in many plant-based foods. However, it’s a gut irritant and also a diuretic. We don’t think it makes sense to put ingredients like that into products.”
