Photo / Courtesy of Atlantic Sea Farms
Mikel Durham
January 16, 2025
Biddeford kelp company raises $3.8M, announces leadership transition
File Photo / Tim Greenway
Briana Warner is stepping down as CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms but will stay involved as a strategic advisor.
Atlantic Sea Farms, a Biddeford-based farmed seaweed company with 21 employees, has raised $3.8 million to fund its next chapter, to be led by a new CEO.
Including the latest capital boost from several longtime investors, Atlantic Sea Farms has raised a total of $9.5 million to date. CEO Briana Warner will step down after more than five years at the helm, the company announced Thursday.
While Warner will take on a a new role as a strategic adviser, Mikel Durham will become interim CEO as of the end of January.
Durham, who has held leadership positions with major food companies including PepsiCo Inc., currently sits on the board of Yum China Holdings Inc., that country’s largest restaurant group, and of the Marine Stewardship Council. The international nonprofit promotes sustainable seafood.
Warner is handing over the reins of Atlantic Sea Farms after overseeing the company’s expansion from just two farmers producing 30,000 pounds of seaweed to a network of 40 partner farmers harvesting more than 1.3 million pounds in 2024.
“We have created and developed a unique company with a strong and sustainable value proposition,” Warner said in Thursday's announcement. “I am thrilled to remain engaged in an advisory role and couldn’t be more excited to have Mikel at the helm for this next phase of Atlantic Sea Farms’ growth.”
Warner was honored on the Mainebiz Next list in 2020 and was featured in “Fighting for Equity," an award-winning Mainebiz cover story published in 2021 about female entrepreneurs beating the odds to raise capital.
Investors in Atlantic Sea Farms’ latest equity raise include True Wealth Ventures, Third Nature Investors and Builders Bridge.
In response to an emailed question from Mainebiz, Atlantic Sea Farms said it plans to use the $3.8 million to expand the market for its domestically farmed kelp products.
The goal is to "continue diversifying coastal economies int he face of climate change by partnering with more fishermen to regeneratively grow seaweed," the company said in a written statement.
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