Aquanzo was founded in 2022 by Stefanie Lobnig and Dr. Rémi Gratacap around one question: what if we could make more marine ingredients without harming the ocean? Since then we've scaled from 10 L benchtop systems to a 5 m³ mobile unit running at industrial partner sites, validated our feed in independent trials, and laid the foundations in breeding and AI that make the system work.
Co-Founders: Dr. Rémi Gratacap & Stefanie Lobnig
Cultivated Artemia as a standard marine ingredient in feed, in marine actives and on the plate. Produced beside the industries whose by-products feed it, with nothing taken from the sea.
Our first commercial-scale modular unit: a standard building block, designed to be replicated beside by-product partners.
Our camera setup and AI platform now analyse the tank live, counting, sizing and tracking Artemia to guide production. With Wageningen University & Research and EMFAF support, we are fine-tuning nutrition for selected aquaculture partners.
Artemeal™ tested as a premium marine protein in poultry starter feed, in an independent trial with Innovate UK, SRUC and the UK Agri-Tech Centre.
A mobile unit with a 5 m³ tank, built to sit beside the by-product producer. After a pilot with Boortmalt on brewing by-products, it now runs a proof of concept on dairy by-products at a partner site.
Our breeding programme with the Roslin Institute lays the foundation for selecting Artemia on the first traits that matter for production.
A base at the Eden Campus with tanks up to 1 m³ for parallel trials and our first cyst production. With CENSIS, we build an IoT-enabled production unit.
Our first dedicated lab: the first kilogram of product, the first feed trials and the first sensor prototype.
First Artemia cohorts grown at Heriot-Watt's Lyell Centre on whisky-malt by-products. The first proof that the biology holds.
As Co-Founder and CEO of Aquanzo, my goal is to ensure we're not just making waves, we're making waves with impact, leading the way in responsible and transformative environmental solutions.
With a Master's in Engineering and experience spanning both industry and startups, my career has taken me from process engineering to product development and technical project management.
Aquanzo's mission is personal. Growing up on a farm in Austria gave me a deep respect for resourcefulness and sustainability. That passion now drives our work turning waste products into vital marine ingredients, creating innovations that benefit both people and the planet.
Philip joined Aquanzo as Non-Executive Chair as the company moves from technical proof into continuous production, customer validation and repeatable sales.
He spent 22 years with SARIA UK, including building ReFood UK, with wide experience across the fats, proteins and feed markets, and continues as Chair and investor at Flybox®. The technologies differ, but the commercial questions are familiar: securing the right feedstocks, running reliable operations, finding where the greatest market value lies and building a model customers want to buy into.
At Aquanzo he supports Stefanie and the Board with independent challenge and commercial experience, sharpening strategic and market priorities on the journey from technical validation to commercial scale.
I joined Aquanzo in its early stages, and my role has evolved to Lead Engineer and Remote Operations Manager. I bring 25+ years of personal fishkeeping experience, 12 years of professional aquaculture research experience, including 2.5 years leading R&D and site management in our Artemia cultivation. I hold a degree in Animal Welfare & Behaviour and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences focused on sustainable aquaculture feeds.
I manage our mobile operational unit, support nutritional aspects of production, contribute to R&D efforts, and lead system optimisation and the development of new facilities as we expand. Being part of Aquanzo not only challenges me to grow, it also enables me to contribute to a sustainable future while pursuing my passion for aquaculture.
I am a microbiologist specialising in strain discovery and improvement. At Aquanzo I lead our R&D programme turning salty dairy side-streams into a low-cost microbial feed for Artemia: characterising the feedstock, screening candidate organisms, and testing whether what we grow actually performs in the tank.
Before joining Aquanzo I spent seven years as Strain Improvement Lead at Quorn Foods, where I built the strain development function from an empty lab: developing the methods, specifying and buying the equipment, and recruiting and mentoring the team. Over that time I screened more than 100,000 strains using high-throughput methods, FACS and adaptive laboratory evolution, and worked with IP specialists to protect what came out of it.
What I care about is keeping the science honest and the spending disciplined: knowing which experiments will genuinely answer the question, and when a promising route is better stopped than pursued. That is what turns a short research programme into something the company can build on.
Stelios spent over 27 years at INVE Aquaculture, ultimately serving as Commercial Director, where he played a key role in global business development and strategy, particularly for Artemia-based hatchery nutrition solutions. He brings deep expertise in sales strategy, business planning, customer communication and international operations within aquaculture.
In the last five years, he has worked independently as a consultant in agriculture, aquaculture and pet feeds, introducing these industries to novel raw materials from startups and scaling bioconversion companies.
Today, he supports Aquanzo in business and partnership development, helping bring its products to market.
I am a robotics and software engineer with a passion for developing innovative automation solutions in agriculture and environmental sectors. At Aquanzo, I lead all aspects of software, hardware and controls, designing the platform that integrates everything from sensor connectivity and reliable cloud communication to ML models and AI tools for analytics, automated monitoring and decision support, along with dashboards and control systems that make the technology effective in real time.
Previously, I was Head of Robotics at a leading soil analysis company and Founder & Robotics Director at Branch Robotics, bringing a strong track record of technical leadership and innovation.
My expertise in IoT, robotics, software engineering and applied AI ensures Aquanzo's systems are scalable, secure and future-proof, supporting the company's mission to revolutionise sustainable Artemia production.
I am responsible for seamless lab operation, with the goal of creating an organized yet dynamic work environment. My core duties include designing, building and maintaining our systems, keeping the lab stocked, overseeing data entry and other records, biosecurity upkeep, experimental design, and more.
As one of the first employees, it has been incredibly rewarding to gain expertise, witness the company's growth and development, and contribute to our expanding knowledge base.
Rémi's expertise is rooted in science and entrepreneurship, with a special focus on aquaculture. With a background in cellular and molecular biology, specialising in fish immunology and genome engineering, he brings a strong scientific approach to problem-solving.
He co-founded Aquanzo in February 2022 with Stefanie Lobnig and led the company until July 2025. He is now a board member and scientific advisor, supporting Aquanzo as it enters the next phase.
He fundamentally believes that marine ingredients are essential to the future of aquaculture and animal feed, but a paradigm shift needs to happen, from exploiting the oceans to avoiding catastrophic consequences on this fragile ecosystem.
Nizar serves as a business advisor to the company, bringing extensive expertise in mergers & acquisitions, international sales and strategic business development across the agri-food and commodities sectors, and experience in novel insect proteins.
He has led several million-dollar M&A projects, driven innovation, and scaled operations in both established corporations and ambitious start-ups.
Andrew is a marine biologist and Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) engineer with over 30 years of global experience. As a hands-on specialist and CEO of RAS Technology Ltd, he brings deep expertise in designing, managing and operating sustainable, circular aquaculture systems that minimise environmental impact and optimise resource efficiency.
Mark brings over 20 years of executive experience across business and finance, guiding companies through growth, capital raising, IPOs and international expansion. His deep expertise in strategic decision-making and objective assessment of opportunities ensures sound, value-driven support to Aquanzo's leadership.
Eugene brings a career spent on the buying side of industrial supply chains, with senior commercial, sales, procurement and business development roles at Honeywell and AlliedSignal across chemicals, automotive, software and logistics. He advises Aquanzo on customer definition, route to market and how large corporate buyers evaluate new suppliers, including what volume, continuity and quality commitments they require before signing. He currently also serves as a board advisor to an AI company in the United States.
Illia is a product leader with experience across telecommunications, marketplaces and location intelligence, currently Senior Product Manager at TomTom working on global digital map strategy. He advises Aquanzo on product strategy and market positioning, with a particular focus on the company's sensing and control platform and how a technical asset is positioned, protected and taken to market. His perspective from outside the aquaculture sector helps the team test assumptions and identify where Aquanzo can compete on something other than price.
Jason spent seven years as CEO of BIM, Ireland's seafood development agency, following a career in policy and advocacy in Brussels and Dublin. He went on to co-found a marine bio-refinery converting pelagic by-catch into proteins, calcium and lipids, raising €15 million and building a €20 million production facility that took the company into the FT's ranking of Europe's fastest-growing businesses. He is now Head of Commercial at a €120 million seafood processing group and serves as an EU Blue Invest coach and an evaluator for the European Commission's innovation funding programmes.
Trial results, partnerships and independent coverage of our move from lab to industry.
An independent trial with SRUC and the UK Agri-Tech Centre put Aquanzo's cultivated marine protein to work in poultry starter diets, opening a new route for marine nutrition in feed.
