With its diverse applications in yield-boosting biostimulants, methane-reducing animal feed, and marine habitat restoration, tropical red seaweed is on track to become a high-value, high-impact solution for food security and ocean health
Potato Impact Partners (PIP) announced an investment in Coast 4C, a Philippine-based company building the world’s largest supply of quality, responsibly-sourced regenerative seaweed and a 2024 Earthshot Prize finalist. Through the funding, PIP joined existing Coast 4C investors Conservation International Ventures, Rumah Group & Foundation, Rising Tide Investment, and Hatch Blue, seeking to drive social, environmental and economic benefits in Southeast Asia.
With its diverse applications in yield-boosting biostimulants, methane-reducing animal feed, and marine habitat restoration, tropical red seaweed is on track to become a high-value, high-impact solution for food security and ocean health. However, Southeast Asian coastal seaweed farms that produce tropical red seaweeds struggle to maintain sustainable levels of productivity and meet growing demand, with their pain points being a lack of quality seedlings and inefficiencies in the seaweed supply chain. Coast 4C’s solution: Transitioning coastal communities from traditional to regenerative farming.
Coast 4C is dedicated to building economically and environmentally regenerative farmer communities and improving their livelihoods. Through their GROW program, Coast 4C provides smallholder seaweed farmers with technological support to help them transition from traditional to regenerative farming practices, which has led to a 4x yield increase and 25 per cent improvement in their seaweed crop quality. They also equip coastal communities with the growth strategies they need to sell quality seaweed at competitive price points, thus serving the financial needs of both farmers and buyers.
“We are impressed by Coast 4C’s unique experience and model in Southeast Asia of partnering smallholder communities to farm regenerative seaweed in integrated Marine Protected Areas, while deploying supply chain and monitoring technologies to access higher-value markets at scale,” said Bernice Tang, Impact Lead at Potato Impact Partners. “This way, coastal communities can prosper and gain resilience, and the ocean is protected–fitting our focus on sustainable systems and patient capital that prioritise long-term impact over short-term gains.”
