Macro Oceans

FOUNDER & CEO

Matthew Perkins

PRODUCTS

Seaweed bioproducts

INDUSTRY

Research/Tech

Woodland’s Lab@AgStart is the perfect home for us. It’s inspiring to work amongst other innovators in the lab and a privilege to be plugged into one of the leading food and ag networks in the country.

Matthew Perkins, Founder and CEO

Developing A Seaweed Biorefinery

Macro Oceans is an early-stage, technology startup. We are developing a biorefinery to transform seaweed into a wide array of green, more sustainable bioproducts. These include everything from high-value bioactive compounds for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, high-quality functional ingredients for plant-based foods, and feeds and fertilizers for healthier animals and crops. We are also researching the feasibility of producing a fully biodegradable plastic.

Our biorefinery is zero waste and uses cutting edge, sustainable, green chemistry. Our goal is to develop the technologies and products we need to accelerate our transition to a cleaner, bio-based economy and to help to restore the vitality of our oceans.

The Restorative Power of Seaweed

Seaweed is a zero-input crop, requiring nothing but sunlight to grow. It contains an incredible diversity of compounds from which we can make an array of green products – everything from pharmaceuticals to fertilizers to polymers.

Seaweeds are the trees of the ocean. They grow forest-like, anchored to the seafloor, providing a rich habitat for marine life. They cycle nutrients, generate oxygen, and help sequester carbon.

The ocean appears vast, wild and indestructible. But they are under enormous pressure from planetary warming, ocean acidification and over exploitation.

Our Home in Woodland

We are based at the Lab@AgStart, the pioneering lab co-working space and startup incubator in Woodland. “It’s the perfect home for us,” says Matthew Perkins, founder and CEO. “It’s inspiring to work amongst other innovators in the lab and a privilege to be plugged into one of the leading food and ag networks in the country.”

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of the climate crisis. But instead of being despondent, we should be inspired, because Nature has already provided us with a roadmap to a better destination.

Matthew Perkins, Founder and CEO

The Faces Behind the Innovation

Matthew Perkins fundamentally believes that technology can help us build a better world. He has spent the past decade in terrestrial agriculture, bringing new genetic and digital technologies to market to improve the productivity and impact of farming.

In mid-2020, he started Macro Oceans to harness an overlooked nature-based solution to the climate crisis. His idea was simple: make awesome bioproducts from kelp to displace petroleum-based alternatives.

Luckily for him, around the same time, Mohammad Tajparast was dreaming of doing just that. As a PhD biochemical engineer at McGill University and later at Google X, Mohammad gained extensive experience in translating cutting edge science into innovative solutions.

And so Matthew and Mohammad teamed up to build Macro Ocean’s core technology and a range of awesome kelp-based bioproducts.