Coral Vita Raises Funding as Startup Works to Restore Reefs

By Thomas Price | Thursday, 14 January 2021 | Startup, Sustainability & Environment

As environmental issues associated with climate change continue to become a larger problem in the minds of both average consumers and many business owners, an increasing number of startups are working toward finding new and creative solutions to these issues. One of the most pressing concerns happens to be the death and diminishing of the coral reefs due to rising ocean temperatures. Coral Vita is a startup aiming to help change the environmental impact on coral reefs through a variety of science-backed techniques, and as a result, investors have taken notice.

Coral Vita’s Practices

Coral Vita is a startup with the explicit goal of protecting and restoring the coral reefs all across the many oceans. The startup does this through a process known as coral farming. Coral farming essentially breaks down to collecting coral fragments in nature, raising them in a farm on the startup’s property until they reach maturity, and later installing them at a restoration site that Coral Vita is focusing on. The process is backed by science and has proven to be up to 50 times faster for coral growth than it would be in nature.

The company also partakes in a process called assisted evolution. This process enables the coral to be more resistant to warmer waters and more acidic oceans to create higher survivability once the farmed coral is planted as a restoration site. The startup as a whole works to identify sites that are in dire need of restoration, create a plan to deal with them, farm the necessary coral, install the coral into the reef, and then finally monitor that coral to ensure survival and effectiveness.

Coral Vita’s Funding and Future Plans

All of these efforts have resulted in the startup raising $2 million worth of seed funding by the close of the round. This seed funding round was led by Builders Collective, with participation from Max Altman as well as MLB pitcher Max Scherzer and his wife, Erica.

Coral Vita has many future plans, but they obviously revolve around garnering enough income to scale up their own work in coral restoration. The startup hopes that ecotourism can serve as a solid source of income once the world begins to reopen, along with their “adopt-a-coral” campaign — a way people can support the startup directly.

The startup is looking for as many resources as possible due to the inconsistency of relying on government support in the long-term. The $2 million raised can go a long way in helping the business expand its current operation and diversify its income as well. Once current positive for the company, is that the cost of coral farming continues to decrease as the project scales up; the change is roughly from $30 per coral down to $10. Coral Vita’s goals to find sustainable income could make major waves for the startup, the ocean, and ultimately the world’s environmental needs.

About the Author

Thomas Price

Tom Price is a writer focusing on Entertainment and Sports Features. He has a degree from NYU in English with a minor in Creative Writing. He has been previously published for Washington Square News, Dignitas, CBR, and Numbers on the Boards.