Ever After Foods has bought Belgian cell-cultured seafood company Fishway in a deal that brings two food technology businesses under one roof. Along with the acquisition, Ever After Foods has secured an additional $2 million, or about €1.7 million, in strategic capital. The new money will help the company support the wider commercial use of its technology platform.
The deal marks an important step for Ever After Foods as it seeks to build a large production platform for cultivated protein. The Israeli company has worked on cultivated meat, with a focus on chicken and beef. Fishway brings a different area of expertise: cultivated fish and seafood.
The two companies had already worked together before the deal. Their joint technology work showed that their systems could work well together. That result helped create the case for a full acquisition.
Fishway Adds Seafood Expertise
Fishway is based in Belgium and has focused on cell-cultured seafood. Its work includes aquatic cell lines and methods that can help create seafood without the need to raise and kill fish.
This knowledge gives Ever After Foods access to a new area of cultivated protein. Until now, the company has placed much of its focus on meat. With Fishway, it can add seafood science to its wider technology base.
The Fishway team will join Ever After Foods as part of the deal. Belgium will also remain an important center for the company, with a focus on aquatic biology and media development.
For Ever After Foods, this is more than a simple purchase of another startup. The company wants to bring together different parts of the cultivated protein process. That includes cell biology, food media, production systems and large-scale manufacturing.
A $2 Million Strategic Investment
At the same time as the Fishway deal, Ever After Foods secured an extra $2 million in strategic capital. The company said the money will help support the commercial use of its platform.
The new capital comes at a key point for the cultivated protein sector. Many companies have shown that they can create animal cells in a lab. The harder task is to produce those cells at a large scale and at a cost that can work for the food market.
Ever After Foods wants to solve that problem through a production platform that can serve several types of cultivated protein. The company believes its system can help food businesses move from small tests to larger production.
The $2 million gives the company more room to advance that plan while it brings Fishway into its business.
Why the Two Companies Fit
The deal has a clear logic. Fishway has knowledge of aquatic biology and animal-component-free media. Ever After Foods has expertise in production systems for cultivated meat.
In simple terms, Fishway knows more about the cells and media needed for seafood, while Ever After Foods has a wider focus on large-scale production. By putting these skills together, the companies hope to create a faster path from early science to commercial products.
Their earlier technology work helped prove that this idea could work. Ever After Foods said the two platforms were compatible. That gave the company a basis for the acquisition rather than a simple partnership.
This type of deal could become more common in the cultivated protein sector. The industry has many small companies with strong expertise in one part of the process. A larger platform can bring several of these skills together and reduce the need to build every technology from the start.
The Role of Animal-Component-Free Media
One important part of the deal is Fishway’s work on animal-component-free media. This term refers to the liquid or nutrient mix that helps animal cells grow without the use of animal-based materials.
This issue has been a major challenge for the cultivated protein sector. Some early cell-based systems relied on fetal bovine serum, which comes from animals. That material can be costly and hard to source at the scale needed for a large food business.
A move away from such materials can help make cultivated protein more suitable for commercial use. It can also support the basic goal of cultivated food: the creation of animal protein without the need for conventional animal farming.
Fishway’s knowledge in this area can therefore add value to Ever After Foods’ existing production technology.
Pet Food Could Come First
One of the first commercial programs from the combined platform will focus on protein ingredients for premium pet food.
This choice makes sense for several reasons. Pet food can offer a strong market for new protein sources. Premium products can also support a higher price than mass-market food, which can help new technologies reach the market while costs remain high.
Ever After Foods also points to regulatory factors as a reason for the choice. Pet food may offer a more suitable first market for the combined platform than some human food categories.
The first goal is not to replace all conventional meat or seafood at once. Instead, the company can use a focused product area to prove that its technology can work at a commercial level. Success in that area could then help it move into other food categories.
Ever After Foods Has Bigger Plans
The Fishway deal fits into a larger plan at Ever After Foods. The company aims to create scalable technology for cultivated meat and other animal proteins.
Ever After Foods uses a proprietary 3D cell expansion system that is designed to support large-scale production. The company says its technology can create cultivated meat with a focus on cost, scale and consistency. Its platform is designed for business-to-business use, which means other food companies could use the technology as part of their own product plans.
The company has also had a strategic relationship with Bühler, a major food technology company. The two firms announced a collaboration in February 2025 to advance production systems for cultivated meat. Their goal was to create equipment that could help food producers make cultivated meat at lower cost and at volumes suitable for market entry.
That history shows why Fishway can fit well into the company’s plans. Ever After Foods is not only focused on a single cultivated meat product. It wants to build the systems that can help the wider food sector produce cultivated protein.
A New Phase for Cultivated Protein
The cultivated protein sector has faced many problems. Companies have had to deal with high costs, complex science, production limits and regulatory questions. Some startups have also found it hard to move from laboratory work to commercial scale.
The Ever After Foods and Fishway deal reflects a possible change in strategy. Instead of each company trying to solve every problem alone, businesses can combine their strongest technologies.
Ever After Foods CEO Eyal Rosenthal said the future of protein will depend not only on new scientific ideas but also on the ability to bring those ideas together in large-scale production. He described Fishway as an important part of the company’s plan for a more resilient and secure protein system.
Fishway CEO Annelies Bogaerts also said the earlier technology partnership showed the value of the two companies’ systems. She said the acquisition can help support a new phase of safe and sustainable protein production.
What the Deal Means for the Market
The acquisition gives Ever After Foods a broader technology base. It now has access to seafood cell lines, aquatic biology expertise, animal-component-free media knowledge and a larger scientific team.
The $2 million also gives the company fresh capital at a time when it seeks to move its technology closer to commercial use.
For the cultivated protein market, the deal shows that scale remains a major priority. Great science alone may not be enough. Companies also need reliable production systems, lower costs and clear paths to market.
Ever After Foods is now trying to bring those pieces together. Its meat technology, Fishway’s seafood expertise and the new capital could give the company a stronger position across several protein categories.
The Road Ahead
The success of the deal will depend on what Ever After Foods can do with the combined platform. The company will need to integrate the Fishway team, make the technology work at larger scale and prove that the economics can support real commercial products.
The first test may come from premium pet food. If the company can create a useful product at a viable cost, that could offer an early proof point for the wider platform.
The larger goal remains much bigger. Ever After Foods wants to help create a system where cultivated meat and seafood can move from small laboratory batches to industrial production.
The Fishway acquisition gives the company another set of tools for that task. With $2 million in new strategic capital and access to Fishway’s seafood technology, Ever After Foods has taken a clear step toward a broader cultivated protein business.
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