Forbes - USA (2020-10)

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FORBES.COM OCTOBER 20 20

Last year, Amy No-

vogratz gathered a seaweed farmer, an

oyster-hatchery owner, the creator of

a chip made from dehydrated salmon

skins, a grocery buyer, a restaurateur

and a reporter for a dinner party in

her Manhattan loft. As her guests sa-

vored arctic char poached in saffron

with heirloom tomatoes and a pis-

tachio pesto, she rose to explain the

fish’s provenance: Matorka, a farm in

Grindavík, Iceland, that raises its anti-

biotic-free fish on land in tanks using

geothermal energy.

Back in 2016, when Novogratz’s

Aqua-Spark fund invested $2.5 mil-

lion in it, Matorka was producing just

50 tons of fish a year. By the time of

that dinner party, it was selling 3,000

tons, including to celebrity chef Nobu

Matsuhisa and U.S. grocery delivery

service FreshDirect. When Covid-19

hit and Matorka’s restaurant sales

dried up, Aqua-Spark helped out with

a $750,000 bridge loan. “The brand is

back to a good place now,’’ reports No-

vogratz, who sees it growing to 6,000

tons by 2022—a “really good sweet

spot where you can keep production

controlled, know your market, know

L

Just Keep Swimming

By Chloe Sorvino Photograph by Jamel Toppin for Forbes

AMY NOVOGRATZ fought back from a brain tumor that could have killed her

to build the world’s largest sustainable aquaculture investment fund.

CONTRARIAN MONEY & INVESTING

Global Harvest

Amy Novogratz in her

New York loft in August.

A third of the capital for

her Netherlands-based

Aqua-Spark comes from

U.S. investors.