Ocean Harvest – Sustainable, Locally-Sourced Salmon
Ocean Harvest is a recognized leader in sustainable land-based aquaculture, producing local Atlantic Salmon in the United Arab Emirates
Who We Are
Ocean Harvest is a leading land-based aquaculture startup based in Abu Dhabi.
Our company leverages proprietary technology and local project delivery expertise to to localize the production of Atlantic Salmon in import-dependent markets. Our team believes in a marrying engineering expertise with specialized operational expertise to design, build and operate its own farms. In tandem with its strategic partners BESIX and Tech Group, Ocean Harvest designs its own farms from scratch and sources equipment from industry-leading suppliers. We pride on specializing in modular, low discharge production systems which enable faster project delivery and less negative impact on the environment.
Our Story
We build climate-agnostic, land-based aquaculture technologies to deliver the ultimate quality, local Atlantic Salmon.
Our salmon is fresher, cleaner, and more sustainable than foreign imports.
Our land-based aquaculture facilities fully control the indoor environment, enabling industry-leading resource efficiency, and improved animal welfare.
We are committed to minimizing our impact on the environment by recycling wastewater and, when possible, leveraging renewable energy resources We use RAS technology to overcome challenges related to salmon production in hot and humid climates.
Food safety and quality are of utmost priority for us. We utilize advanced on-site water treatment to ensure minimal impact on the environment.
We also pack and deliver our locally-grown seafood: immediately cooling freshly harvested salmon to extend shelf life – preserving freshness, texture, color and flavor.
Atlantic Salmon — Pink Jewel of the Sea
Replete with Omega-3 fatty acids
Proven to reduce inflammation, decrease blood
pressure and minimize disease risk for disease
Abundant source of sustainable protein
Energizing, strenghtens the skeletal system, and reduces loss of muscle energy, protects bone health and prevents muscle loss
Rich in B vitamins
Regulates blood pressure and retains essential fluids
Source of Potassium
Protects bone health, improves thyroid function, reduces risk of cancer
Most preferred, sustainable and nutritious sources of animal protein
- Locally grown: same day or next day harvest and delivery for ultimate freshness
- Certified Parasite-Free: can be consumed raw without pre- freezing
- 3-4 days longer shelf life than comparable imports
How We Grow
OCEAN HARVEST ADVANTAGES
Combat Climate Change – Ocean Harvest’s facilities will save over 30,000 tonnes a year of carbon dioxide
Eliminate Micro-plastics – Through its self-contained environment, Ocean Harvest facilities will prevent over 53 tonnes a year of microplastics from being released into the environment
Circular Economies – By recycling and re-using fish waste, Ocean Harvest will divert over 8 tonnes of a year from contaminating the sensitive ecological systems
No Fish Escapes – A perfectly controlled, indoor production system will enable Ocean Harvest to prevent thousands of fish escapes per year
Animal Welfare – Ocean Harvest cares for its fish. Our pristine, controlled environment will prevent the typical sea lice infestations faced by traditional cage producers
Water Conservation – By leveraging advanced wastewater treatment technology, Ocean Harvest will use up to 10x less water than other land-based producers
Clean Fish – Unlike many traditional salmon farmers, Ocean Harvest will never use pesticides or antibiotics
Efficient Supply Chain – Traditionally, import-dependent markets have relied on air-freighting fresh atlantic salmon. Ocean Harvest will localize production closer to the end-consumer, thereby eliminating middle-men and transport companies
Meet our Team
Jawad Jamil
CEO & Co-founder
Jawad has served as CEO at Medical Solutions, part of Gulf Healthcare International Group, where his time included a successful exit of the UAE business on behalf of its private equity investors. Prior to his CEO appointment, Jawad served as CFO of the Group where he delivered over 10 acquisitions with a total value of over USD $100MM, and held several other financial leadership roles in his career before that. Jawad Jamil is a graduate of the TRIUM Global Executive MBA program and is a Chartered Certified Account.
Robert Kupstas
Founder & Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)
Robert holds over 8 years of entrepreneurship and business development experience in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. In additon to Ocean Harvest, Robert is also Co-founder of Pure Harvest Smart Farms—one of the most well-funded and fastest growing CEA startups globally.Prior to launching Pure Harvest, Robert consulted the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC)—a USD $8B Australian infrastructure fund— on disruptive technology trends in the infrastructure sector. Robert began his career at the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C. where he supported the Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs on energy policy. Robert holds a Bachelors in Political Science/Economics from The New College of Florida and a Masters in International Policy Studies (IPS) from Stanford University.
BRUNO SARDENBERG
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION & ACTING TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Bruno is specialized in fish farming with a combined skill set and background in production, RAS design and engineering, construction, and farm operations. Holding a solid background in both aquaculture production and engineering, Bruno holds a rare ability to understand and integrate biological and environmental requirements of various fish species with engineering and management of the systems for producing them. Bruno holds a proven record of delivery in R&D, certifications achievement (Global GAP, BAP, Friends of the Sea, ASC and ISO) and commercial production with over 15 years of experience. Most recently Bruno served at Atlantic Sapphire in Miami, Florida as Director of Aquaculture Engineering. Bruno holds a Master of Science (M.S) in Marine Affairs and Policy from the University of Miami and a Bachelor of Aquaculture Engineering from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil.
Strategic Partners
Since first going into action in 1909, the BESIX Group has over the years grown into a multidisciplinary company with a leading position in its markets: construction, property development and concessions. BESIX Contracting specializes in construction, infrastructure and marine works, often in contracts with a high level of complexity. In Benelux and France, the Group’s regional affiliates BESIX Infra, Jacques Delens, Vanhout, Wust and Lux TP ensure a strong presence and a local approach.
Since its establishment in 2003, Tech Group has grown into a vertically integrated multi-discipline construction and industrial company based in the UAE. The Group has businesses in various contracting disciplines such as piling and foundations, contracting, ready-mix concrete, electromechanical works, steel fabrication, aluminium and glass, interior and joinery works, concrete blocks and premium quality petroleum, bitumen and bituminous products.
Advisors
Bjorn Myrseth
Advisor
Bjørn Myrseth is a celebrated aquaculture entrepreneur, fish biologist, and Norwegian national. He is a fisheries biologist from the University of Bergen; due to his long tenure and considerable expertise, he is widely considered to be of the pioneers of the modern fish farming industry. Mr. Myrseth was one of the founders of Stolt Sea Farms where he was CEO from 1972-1987. In 1987 he founded Marine Farms ASA and was that company’s CEO until February 2011. He has broad experience from across the industry, as an entrepreneur, a board member, a consultant, and keynote speaker at many international fish farming conferences. He has also been an associate professor at the Institute of Fishery Biology at the University of Bergen. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of Atlantic Sapphire and Chairman of Morpol, the world’s leading provider of value-added salmon products.
Sky Kurtz
Board Member
Mr. Sky Kurtz is a former technology private equity investor turned serial entrepreneur. Before Co-founding Pure Harvest, Mr. Kurtz Co-founded Vence—reinventing livestock management through a virtual fencing & autonomous control solution. Mr. Kurtz also served as a divisional CEO within Pultron Composites, delivering novel concrete reinforcement materials that solve infrastructure corrosion challenges.Prior to building technology companies, Mr. Kurtz invested in them as a Vice President with Francisco Partners, a $15B tech investment firm based in San Francisco, CA that is an affiliate of Sequoia Capital. Mr. Kurtz was also an investor with CCMP Capital, a $17B generalist investment firm based in New York, NY. Mr. Kurtz has served on the boards of five (5) technology companies of all scales (from $2MM to $500MM+ of sales) and considers himself a lifelong student of business. Mr. Kurtz is an MBA graduate from the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) and holds a B.S. in Finance from ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and was named the Turken Family Outstanding Graduating Senior (valedictory honor). Sky is proudly married to Kinsi Grimen-Kurtz and lives in Dubai, UAE.
Anil Mehta
General Counsel & Board Director
Mr. Anil Mehta is a UK qualified lawyer with over twenty years’ experience in MENA, Europe and Asia including over ten years with Allen & Overy in London and the UAE. Mr. Mehta is an experienced investor and advisor who has served as a board advisor to Careem for over seven years and is also involved in a wide range of other ventures. Mr. Mehta has been the General Counsel at Pure Harvest since its formation. Mr. Mehta attained his first degree in Land Economy at the University of Aberdeen and later studied Law at Nottingham Law School. Mr. Mehta was awarded a Masters in Law at King’s College London.
Franck Boissinot
Advisor
Mr. Franck Boissinot is the Founder of Shared-Csuite, helping SMEs and start-ups navigate the complexities of growing a business. Before devoting his work fulltime to this platform, Mr. Boissinot served 18 years at Carrefour, most recently as Vice President Marketing and E-commerce for Majid Al Futtaim Retail. In addition to growing the retailer’s physical presence, he led in the development and launch of Carrefour’s E-commerce platform in 2011 and loyalty program in 2013. Mr. Boissinot was also instrumental in transforming the customer care and services department, directing all omni-channel marketing activities. Prior to joining Majid Al Futtaim Retail in 2006, Mr. Boissinot served as Sourcing, Sales Development and Pricing Manager at Carrefour Turkey and Hyperstar Iran. Mr. Boissinot holds two Master degrees in Business, Retail Management, and Marketing, from the University of Rennes, in France.
William Sirignano
Board Observer & Investor
William Sirignano is a senior investment professional, manager and dealmaker with over 18 years of Wall Street, hedge fund and private credit professional experience. His areas of expertise include capital markets and risk underwriting as well as sourcing, negotiating and structuring complex deals. William spent 11 years at Blackstone where he was a Managing Director, during which time he sourced >$5 billion worth of private corporate credit deals and co-managed a $3.5 billion opportunistic corporate credit portfolio. William is a passionate and serial venture and seed investor who prefers to take a proactive role as an advisor and partner to the companies in which he invests and has multiple exits and recent capital raises resulting in MOICs over 10X. He has served on the Board of Directors for several companies, totaling >$2 billion in sales. William received a Bachelor of Arts degree Cum Laude in Economics from Williams College also studying corporate finance and mathematics.
David Trench
Board Member
David is a seasoned executive with global experience across technology and capital-intensive businesses. David’s early career was spent in technical and operational roles, followed by commercial, strategic, and business development roles in the energy sector with Shell and BHP. This commercial and technical track record combined led to David assuming senior leadership and executive roles on world-class businesses with Shell. This global experience spanned Australia, USA, Asia, and the Middle East. After Shell, David joined Meraas as Chief Operating Officer (COO), and held P&L responsibility over a diversified set of business units, in addition to spearheading a business transformation program for the Group. Post Meraas, David joined Noon as Senior Vice President (SVP) reporting to the CEO. David holds a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) degree with First Class Honours from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School.
Ian Summerfield
Advisor
Ian has over 37 years experience in the Food and Agriculture space. He currently works as Managing Director at Sunridge Partners, a food and agriculture focussed investment specialist, responsible for all the operating companies as well as advising around investments and disposals. Prior to that Ian was Divisional CEO of Elite Agro, the Food and Agric arm of YAS Holdings based in Abu Dhabi. The role encompassed many geographies as well as diverse segments in the Food and Agri sector.
Ian is also a Non Exec of Keelings, an Irish fresh produce grower and trader, as well as advisor to the board of Pure Harvest and strategic advisor with Natural Ventures a Abu Dhabi based VC fund.
Ian attended HAAU in UK studying Agricultural Marketing and Business Administration and also attended Insead Fountainbleu for an executive AMP.