Danish EIT Food Accelerator Network startup Decameal has raised nearly €1.5 million to transform invasive crabs into a circular raw material. The company said it will use the funding to drive sustainability validation, optimize chitosan extraction, and test feed performance in large-scale trials.
Common shore crabs are invasive crabs that feeds on fish eggs and larvae as well as a wide range of mussels and clams. According to Decameal, they have been the direct cause of the collapse of mussel fisheries around the world. They also degrade eelgrass meadows by destroying and destabilizing the root systems.
Decameal’s solution is to process these invasive crabs into ingredients for organic laying hens, concentrates for pet food and aquaculture and to use the extracts from the shells, including chitin and astaxanthin, for industrial and nutritional applications.
The company said producing protein from 100,000 tons of crabs can reduce CO2 produced by the Danish agricultural sector by more than 65,000 tons compared to imported Brazilian soy. It said replacing current protein production with crab protein could also remove 1600 tons of nitrogen and 1,500 tons of phosphorus from Denmark’s waters each year.
The company received a €700,000 pre-seed round from private and corporate investors, alongside a €1.4 million Green Demonstration and Development grant from Innovation Fund Denmark, in collaboration with the DTU – Technical University of Denmark and Aller Aqua.
“We’re hitting a pivotal moment in bio-solutions—combining sustainability with solid business,” said Leander Hessner, CEO of Decameal. “Our mission is to tap an overlooked resource while improving biodiversity in our waters. Funding from business angels and support from EIFO and GUDP allow us to accelerate and deliver real impact.”
